Resource use by old and modern dairy cattle breeds on semi-natural mountain pastures, Central Norway

Abstract

The objective of this pilot study was to compare resource use in a mountainous summer farming landscape between old and modern dairy cow breeds during a five-day period. The modern breed used a larger part of the landscape than the old breed, most likely due to differences in habitat patterns. The old breed group preferred semi-natural pastures, while the modern breed preferred overgrown semi-natural meadows, intermediate fen, intermediate wooded fen, and grass-rich sub-alpine birch woodland. Both breeds spent most time grazing grasses, but the modern breed showed a higher frequency of grasses and Vaccinium myrtillus in its diet, while the old breed showed a higher frequency of bushes and trees. The pilot study shows some trends supplementing and strengthening earlier results on how modern and traditional cattle breeds are differing in their impact on vegetation based on their use of space and their different diets.

Keywords:

• Biodiversity
• grazing preferences
• habitat selection
• vegetation
• semi-natural grassland

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to the farmers at Rønningsvollen (Wenche and Hans Rønning) and Tejavollen (Johanne Enlid) summer farms in Budalen. We also want to thank Liv D. Sterten, Marianne Lysne and Ulla Falkdalen for helping us with the fieldwork, and Anna Hessle, Frida Dahlström (SLU, Sweden), Hanne Sickel, Astrid Johansen (NIBIO), and Marianne Østerlie (Sør-Trøndelag University College, Department of Food Technology) for interesting discussions during the project period. We are also very grateful to an anonymous reviewer for valuable comments.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Norwegian Genetic Resource Centre, NordGen, Business and Management Research Fund in Mid-Norway and Programme for Regional R & D and Innovation (VRI) Trøndelag.