The recent intensification in European dairy production has raised environmental and sustainability questions around the current housed systems. Pasture is considered to be the cheapest forage, however, its role in continental milk production is declining rapidly. The “Eco-efficient pasture-based milk production” project at Kiel University’s research farm Lindhof in Northern Germany looked at reintroducing grazing. This project looked at a pasture-based milk production system for 80 spring-calving Jerseys as an alternative to the traditional Holstein Friesian herd managed in a housed system. The results demonstrated that a rotational grazing system based on spring calving herd can sustainably produce milk in Germany.

Listen back to this webinar, where Ralf focuses on how they applied the Irish rotational grazing system which is based on spring-calving and strip-grazing to an organic mixed farm in Northern Germany. Ralf discusses the difficulties they faced due to the shorter vegetation period in comparison to Ireland and how they overcome these challenges. He explains why ruminant based crop-livestock farming is a potent strategy to enhance sustainability compared to specialised systems.

The recording is available here: