Mountain forage system management and dairy product quality

The intensification of farming practices is putting at risk the efficiency and sustainability of mountain forage systems and their social, cultural and environmental values. This paper highlights how mountain dairy farms should be of low-intensity in terms of external inputs and should base their feeding strategies on local forage resources. The possibilities of utilizing grazing in summer and of producing high quality nutritional feed stock for the winter period (by cutting local forages at an early stage of growth and conserving them as wrapped haylage) have beneficial effects on production costs, animal health and productivity and quality of dairy products. Furthermore, using high quality forages all year round can contribute to reduce the use of purchased off-farm feeds, to link dairy products to their ‘terroir’ origin and to preserve the high natural and biodiversity value of mountain dairy farms.