Sustainability and resilience in beef cattle systems

Sustainability and resilience are familiar terms, but are often poorly defined in the context of management. While manag­ers have implicit incentive to achieve sustainability and resil­ience, it is not always apparent how to manage toward these objectives. Development of a systems orientation toward man­agement may improve incorporation of these objectives. Rec­ognizing that both are emergent, and not directly observable properties of complex systems, suggests that indicators that can inform decision making are important if operation-level management toward sustainability and resilience are to be achieved. A management framework that defines the purpose for ranch management, and characterizes this purpose with recognition of a timeframe, allows for development of indica­tors important for decision making. Desired attributes of indi­cators are described, and potential indicators of the likelihood of achieving sustainability and resilience in operating contexts are suggested. Managers are likely reliant on professional assis­tance in developing key indicators, especially related to social dimensions of sustainability which include animal well-being.