Gourmet Grazers: Fancy Cow Breeds are Picky Eaters
- Poppy Simon
- May 8, 2020
- 1 min read
A study in Switzerland has shown that the most productive cattle breeds are also the most particular when it comes to grazing.
Cows and other herbivores affect plant diversity in pasture through their forage choice, but until now scientists haven't known which features of plants most influence the decisions made by different breeds.
A team from Agroscope, the Swiss centre of agricultural research, compared the grazing preferences of 3 different cattle breeds with different levels of productivity. High-yielding dairy Angus Holsteins, dual purpose Original Braunvieh and less productive Highland cattle were grazed on different types of alpine pasture and the plant diversity measured afterwards.
As you might expect, all the cows tended to choose plants with higher nutrient levels and more digestible leaves, but avoided woody plants or those with defences against being eaten, like thistles. There were, however, significant differences between the breeds - Highland cows, which are rather more robust than the higher-yielding cows, were much less picky.
Since the Highland cows graze more generally, they don't have such a big effect on the composition of plant species. This prevents less delectable species from dominating, suggesting that heritage breeds could be important in preserving plant biodiversity in alpine pastures.
Pauler, C.M., Isselstein, J., Suter, M., et al. Choosy grazers: Influence of plant traits on forage selection by three cattle breeds. Funct Ecol. 34: 980– 992 (2020).
Fascinating that research might give some old rare breeds a new lease of life.