Amazing Grazing: science in support of future grass based dairy systems

The Amazing Grazing project addresses the challenges that Dutch farmers face in grazing systems with high feed supplementation and high stocking rates on available grazing area. The project consists of six interlinked components (soil, grass growth, grass supply, grass intake, supllementation and behaviour), that are arranged around two grazing and three cutting experiments, as well as three farmer consultation groups. The grazing experiment showed that fresh grass intakes of approximately 6 kg DM cow -1 d -1 are feasible in intensive grazing systems with high feed supplementation levels. Tools for grass monitoring and planning, as well as cow behaviour monitoring, are being developed to support farmer decisions.