Producing milk in mountainous areas using little concentrate feed: four contrasted strategies

摘要

Dairy farmers in mountainous areas tend to use high amounts of bought concentrate feed, whereas their milk production is low. Furthermore, the recent European milk crisis has shaken up farmers and farm management strategies, particularly for feeding cattle. We surveyed 18 farmers in the mountains of the French Massif Central who manage to use little concentrate-feed. We analysed the broad range of their reported technical practices on cattle, grassland, fodder, crops, equipment and label management,and classified the farmers according to their sets of practices. There emerged four contrasted strategies: (1) betting on stored fodder and farm feed; (2) maximizing grazing period and quality; (3) betting on hardier breeds, (4) designing farmland to optimize its use. Using low amounts of bought concentrate appears achievable in different types of mountain dairy systems, provided that farmers consistently 'synergize' their herd-, grass- and land-management practices.