Preservation of grazing

The Dairy Sustainability chain has multiple incentives for dairy farmers to get their cows grazing (again). Every dairy company stimulates farmers financialy, called grazing premium. The grazing percentage is monitored independently.

• The Grazing Covenant exists since 2012. In December 2017, there are 82 signatories. Each signer is actively engaged in promoting grazing. They are very different companies and institutions: NGOs, supermarkets, research and educational institutions, dairy processors and feed suppliers.
• Another initiative is guidance course New Grazers. During this course, special GrazingCoaches guide dairy farmers who want to switch to grazing. Dairy farmers who follow the course, get a GrazingCoache who guides them for two grazing seasons. They give tips and support, so the farmer can fit grazing well in his management.
• The project Amazing Grazing focusses on applying new scientific knowledge and solutions. All aspects of grazing are discussed: grass intake, behaviour of the cow, supplemental feed, grass supply, grass growth, and soil.
• A pilot has started to develop measuring systems, that register grazing digitally. Sensors in the gates to the field and in the collar of the cow, allows it to sow that grazing is being applied. This is important, for example, in flocks that graze on different times or on farms with a milking robots in combination with free cow traffic.

Wageningen Economic Research prepares annual reports to monitor progress on sectoral efforts.

View the sub-reports on Preservation of grazing