Challenges of Pasture Feeding Systems—Opportunities and Constraints

Barbara Wróbel (), Waldemar Zielewicz and Mariola Staniak
Additional contact information
Barbara Wróbel: Institute of Technology and Life Sciences—National Research Institute, 3 Hrabska Avenue, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland
Waldemar Zielewicz: Department of Grassland and Natural Landscape Sciences, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Dojazd 11, 60-632 Poznan, Poland
Mariola Staniak: Department of Forage Crop Production, Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation-State Research Institute, Czartoryskich 8, 24-100 Puławy, Poland

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-31

Abstract: Grazing plays an important role in milk production in most regions of the world. Despite the importance of grazing, current trends in livestock farming in Europe are causing a decline in the popularity of pasture-based feeding of dairy cows. This paper aims to provide an overview of the challenges faced by the pasture feeding system under climate change. Grazing lands provide ecosystem services including regulation and storage of water flows, nutrient cycling, and C sequestration. Livestock grazing is the most important factor shaping and stabilizing pasture biodiversity. Some opportunities for pasture feeding are the health-promoting and nutritional qualities of milk and milk products, especially milk from pasture-fed cows. The beneficial effects of pasture feeding on animal health and welfare are not insignificant. Available organizational innovations can help better manage livestock grazing and, above all, better understand the impact of the grazing process on the environment and climate change.

Keywords: biodiversity; carbon sequestration; grazing systems; milk quality; welfare; virtual fencing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/974/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/5/974/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:5:p:974-:d:1135408

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().