Browsing by Author "Berglund, Nora"

In Finland and in many other European countries, indoor housing of dairy cattle has been increasing at the expense of grazing. According to Finnish legislation, only dairy cows housed in tie-stalls are obligated to graze for 60 days per year between May and September. Pressure to intensify production leads to increase in herd sizes, regional concentration, lack of suitable pastureland near large barns, and automation of milking. Conversely, grazing is regarded as important for animal welfare, maintenance of biodiversity and cultural landscapes. Farmer perceptions towards grazing have not been studied in Finland comprehensively, which need to be understood better in order to provide adequate support for sustainable management of grazing. The research aims at gaining understanding of the external and internal factors driv- ing the farm-level decision making related to grazing regimes. Concept of good farming ideal is used to examine farmers’ decision-making. The data was collected from 26 cattle farms with a gradient of grazing from zero to maximum. Firstly, an online questionnaire was sent out to farmers and secondly, semi-structured inter- views were conducted with 7 dairy producers, to further explore farmer views about grazing, biodiversity, and animal welfare. The results show farmers who practice grazing to perceive it more positively than the farmers who do not graze. Some of the farmers who grazed seemed to consider it almost as an intrinsic value, whereas farmers with no grazing saw it as an inef- ficient production method, which they were afraid would become an obligation. The most im- portant internal factors driving decision-making about grazing based on the questionnaire and interviews, were animal welfare, decreased workload because of grazing, infrastructure of the farm, economic aspects, and benefits of grazing to biodiversity and landscape values. Exter- nal factors found to affect the decision of grazing were incentives, regulations, and consumer expectations. Animal welfare was found to be a basis for production for many and the most important feature valued for good farming, to which grazing was seen to contribute. The re- sults imply subsidies regarding grazing should be higher for grazing to be considered profita- ble and more enjoyable by farmers.