Uruguay is located in the south of the Americas bounded on the South by the Atlantic Ocean and the estuary of the River Plate. Uruguay has a total area of 18.5 million ha, 85% of which can be considered as productive and it is used predominantly for agriculture and livestock grazing production. The climate is temperate, with average temperatures of 12o C in winter and 24o C in summer, and an average of 30 frosts per year. Annual average rainfall values range from 1100 to 1300 mm but with significant variations within and between years. Therefore, periods of droughts are not uncommon. Despite the uniformity of climate throughout the country, the great diversity of soils types determines the types of native pastures (75% of the total area) with a predominance of perennial summer species and very few native legumes constitutes the basis for wool and meat production.

The ecosystem is mainly composed of natural rolling pastures and low hills that allow the grazing of sheep and cattle all year round. Although sheep are run in all parts of the country, the flocks are

mostly concentrated in less productive zones with greater proportion of shallow soils or hilly landscape, such as the basaltic area in the north and the hills in the eastern parts of Uruguay.

The sheep population was 6.33 million in 2020, while the beef cattle population was 11.88 million. On a national basis, on average, livestock numbers (sheep and cattle) represent an average stocking rate of 0,80 livestock units per grazing ha (being 1 livestock unit = 1 cow = 6,67 ewes).

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