Continental Argentina is 2,791,810 km2, with large areas recognized as naturally suitable for extensive beef production. Beef cattle are produced in all of continental Argentina (latitudes 21°48′ to 50°01′ S) through very diverse ecological regions with huge differences in climate, soils, and vegetation. The biogeographical regions are so diverse that they include subtropical rain forests; central temperate, fertile mollisol soils in the Humid Pampas; extensive western arid and semi-arid regions bordering the Ande; and cold sub-Antarctic zones in the south of the country. However, approximately two-thirds of continental Argentina is associated with arid and semi-arid rangeland ecosystems: the arid zone is 170 × 106 ha and the semi-arid zone is 48 × 106 ha, constituting 60 and 15%, respectively, of the continental territory (Fernández and Busso, 1999)