They give forty, fifty liters of milk a day – dairy cows are top athletes: And that’s how they are kept. Farmers today are herd managers. In the cowshed, everything revolves around the best feed, a better physique and stress reduction – for maximum milk production. Breeders and scientists are trying to optimize what is possible here. Not all farmers like that. In Switzerland, some farmers are returning to smaller cows because some stalls are too narrow for large-bred dairy cows, and the cows suffer. For dairy farmers, the pressure to produce more and more output is a challenge – and many are giving up.
The dairy cow should now also become even more climate-friendly and emit less methane. A large Swiss research project is currently working on this.
An “NZZ Format” about optimized dairy cows and how farmers deal with the huge demands.