One Health Day: U of G Examines Impacts of Farming Practices on Animals, Humans and Environment

Could a simple practice that sees farmers move their cattle from grazing area to grazing area result in healthier cattle and less pathogens that can cause human illness reaching our soil and waterways?

That’s what a multidisciplinary research team from the University of Guelph hopes to find out in a first-of-its-kind, multi-year study.

The team wants to learn whether “rotational grazing,” a practice in which farmers move their herd between multiple fenced-off grazing areas every few days, is beneficial to the collective ecosystem health compared to “conventional” grazing in which cattle graze the entire pasture at once.

The researchers are using a One Health approach to study these complex grazing systems. Nov. 3 marks One Health Day, a global campaign that seeks to address shared health challenges for humans, animals and the environment.