This article considers four issues, all in line with the general
objective of managing rangeland utilization in order to
secure both animal production and the renewal of natural
feed resources: (i) characterize vegetation diversity, (ii) feed
the herd or flock on rangeland, (iii) cope with the seasonal
and year-to-year variability in forage production and
(iv) minimize human intervention and farm work. In this
article, we first analyse these issues and later summarize the
current knowledge about animal and herd behaviour in
Mediterranean farming systems. Finally, we describe management
tools that should help answer these issues based
on the knowledge of foraging behaviour