Whether grasslands are mown or grazed, fertilised or unfertilised – all this affects the ecosystem services of Swiss grasslands. These services benefit both the agricultural sector and society, e.g. in the form of livestock feed or erosion protection.
The advantages of grass-clover mixtures in ley farming are manifold. An Agroscope study now shows that their highly efficient use of available nitrogen also keeps the risk of nitrate leaching low.
Agroscope has calculated that limiting concentrates to 365kg per cow and year and a maximum concentrate crude protein content of 18% could make a positive contribution to the nitrogen reduction path without negatively impacting profitability.
