Dairy cows: Grazing to the future

While bucolic images of dairy farming persist in our collective imagination, cows are now rarely to be found grazing in pastures. Indeed, grazing systems are undergoing shifts that are simultaneously shaped by profitability and societal expectations related to the environment, animal welfare, and food nutritional quality. A key question thus arises: is a return to grass-based systems possible or desirable?

Published on 16 January 2023

The magazine that informs, decodes and gives you food for thought

To read in this dossier

1 - Dairy farming: current practices

In 2021, milk production was in full swing across the entire globe. Although most current systems utilise cows, other mammalian livestock are represented as well. That said, milk production systems can vary dramatically, even within countries. From alpine pastures to mega-farms, what does dairy farming look like at present in the real world?

2 - Meeting economic demands without increasing environmental impacts

Worldwide, the dairy industry is grappling with a steady increase in demand of about 15 to 18 billion litres each year. At the same time, it is attempting to mitigate its environmental impacts. The industry is also facing growing societal expectations around animal welfare, particularly in Western countries. Navigating these challenges is essential to strike a healthy balance between competitiveness and sustainability.

3 - Grass-based livestock farming, raring to succeed

In Europe, including in France, some pastoral systems and mixed systems are striving for 100% grass-based production to increase profitability and/or develop more environmentally friendly practices. However, given the advent of climate change, are grass-fed systems a safe bet?

4 - Experiments in the field

Challenges vary among regions in France. Consequently, INRAE has long been experimenting with innovative grass-based dairy production models. The objective is to identify helpful tools and difficult obstacles as well as to gather information that can inform efforts to adapt practices, livestock systems, and industries. Here, we take a closer look at seven experiments.

Sarah-Louise Filleux

Author / Translated by Jessica Pearce
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