Network analysis of cattle movement among municipalities in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, from 2013 to 2023

The aim of this study was to characterize the movement among municipalities in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and to perform a network analysis based on these movements. Data on cattle movement in Minas Gerais, Brazil, from January 2013 to August 2023 were acquired from Guia de Trânsito Animal (GTA) (Animal Transit Guide), mandatory in Brazil for all livestock movements, provided by Instituto Mineiro de Agropecuária (IMA) (State Animal Health Authority). Descriptive analysis was performed, the five most common municipalities that were the origin and destination of movements were described, and the reason for transportation was assessed. Municipalities were considered nodes and movements were the edges in the network analysis, which was also considered a direct graph. Most of the municipalities of origin and destination of movements were in Triângulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaíba region. The transportation directed to farms [5769,910/13,022,761 (44.31 %)] was the most observed considering the reason of transportation, followed by slaughterhouses [5196,787/13,022,761 (39.99 %)], livestock event [2040,698/13,022,761 (15.67 %)] and to others [15,366/13,022,761 (0.11 %)]. The analysis of cattle movements (according to the accessed GTA) among the years showed an average of 1042,153.27 (SD: 2889,595.96) movements. Additionally, the network analysis results described static and high-connected networks, with great values of municipalities in the strong component (850.27; SD: 1.19) and the presence of three large communities covering most of the state in all years (2013–2023). In general, our results demonstrated a highly connected network intrastate throughout the analyzed years, with movements particularly concentrated in the Triângulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaíba region.