"Smallholders loom large in policies on land reform, poverty reduction and food security that are meant to foster rural development and agrarian transformation in South Africa. Based on a pilot study of two livestock-owning communities along the Mpumalanga-Limpopo border, The socioeconomics of livestock keeping explores the 'meaning and materiality' of livestock keeping within these communities, and uses the insights gained to understand the ways in which primary animal healthcare is practiced, valued, and approached. We explore, through the relationships and tensions between state animal-health practitioners and poor livestock owners, the intersection between policy expectations and smallholders' economic rationales. The socioeconomics of livestock keeping opens up a variety of research and policy questions that encourages further exploration and study."--Back cover.