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s if Europeanow can the pre no data aderstand thethey exist a

on, precise denologies desHelgadottir eno et al. (201

nces in membn the total cories (Dillon eed by 1 cent/hat a consida significantstates.

asons for stretive feed. Inxample 1:3:5

fertilizers anted for othe

sed, that duee paddock siduction syste

mportant diffure 1) (Huygand. In the nly the area press the ell developed

he Netherlan(Portugal, Sis more typareas where

e environmework Directiv20). Emissioforests and ouse gases (based livestoike carbon s Within Eur

different cougrass dry maowledge of g of nationaantify. Indeetions and othtion due to ctablished.

n grassland ipossibilities foand benchma overall diffe

and how to efinitions of wscribed by Peet al. (2014)14) for the M

ber state proosts of producet al., 2005)/litre for a 2

derable propot impact on c

essing the imn Ireland e.g. This relationd all other er EU membe

e to local conizes are too ems are bas

ferences betghe et al. 201UK, Ireland differs wide

ecological, stfor example

nds, DenmarkSpain, Italy, pical of centforage cons

entally sustave (2000), Kons of green

grasslands (GHG) are aock systems sequestrationrope there auntries and watter producthow to incre

al levels of ged some couher major vaclimate, soil

is not benchmor any increaarks for eacherences betwuse possibiliwhat grasslaeeters et al.) for the No

Mediterranean

oduction arection and the). The relatio2.5% increasortion of thecost of produ

mportance og. the ratio onships may

production er states.

nditions and small for ro

sed around

tween the m14). France, and Sloveni

ely, moreovetructural, hise in Ireland, Uk, SwitzerlanGreece).

tral Europe (servation is n

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types, types

marked. Howase of profitah grassland t

ween Europeaities to over

and has been. (2014). Grrth of Europn Region.

highlighted e proportion onship showe in grazed e dairy cowsuction is rea

f grazing is tof cost of gvary betweefacilities. Th

e.g. a differotational graindoor feed

member stateUK and Spaia permanentr the kind ofstorical and UK, France and and also Harvesting (Germany), eeded.

necessitated ol (1997) anes (GHG) arland, and s

ce of naturalg in overall nce of biodivces betweenries. As yet t

member statemprove grassoduction and not be able er access, ets of vegetati

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that it is a hgrazed grassn all countriee exact com

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title dat

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ean grasslanrmanent grash region? Bends and to estproblems. In by the introdrviews of Euet al. (2014

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ystems have 14). Fulltimt fed adequalike e.g. sila

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vantages in

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ssential to dward product

evant data, lish the propthe debate aachieved, whhmarks for dtries, should (2011).

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determine tivity and using old per detail about the hat is the describing consider

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output at a h level.

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1 ResilieeconomiResiliencperformagood res

tainable Agriccountancy Dshowed that because of s. The continin Brittany, aational comptwork (56 vsen maize sila0 vs 349 900 €/AWU), thigher (21 90urchases of cc result befois even muc

tudy of Samosts per ha aof intensificatc performanystems, appemilk producti€/l respectiv

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vs 78 ha), useage (11 vs 30 litres) and ahe farms of t7 vs 17 261 concentratedore tax and wh higher in t

son et al. (2are closely ation does no

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nces of grasss. If grasslanket improvem

established fto highlight

of grazing tah lower thanailable. A ketes, some mt of Belgium,zerland or Sond, parts of

tainous regiong intensity ts necessaryation across c

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works (SAN)’ rk (RICA)’ inbased system

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s of the RICAe farms of the more grass2%) and proa smaller totthe SAN net€/AWU) tha

d feed (154 vwithout subshe farms of t

2012) the thrassociated to

ot seem to bestudy, the

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for other mthe areas o

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ons it would is different

y definition recountries.

ptitude of a (ey stable vis-aacity of a (ec The systemperformance

’ and from con the same rms in the loion costs desn 2008 and 2A (see Peyrauhe SAN netws (87 vs 67%oduce less cetal product ptwork producn average favs 320 €/ha)sidies, which the SAN netw

ree classes oto a reductioe a key explamost self-su to price crisy lower thanintermediatevary from o

ystems is wesystems stro

stems appears, 2014).

member stateof grassland n these me

f harvesting/remains in Etes have int

Germany or thOther countr

while more a

be importanacross the

egarding tim

eco-)systema-vis a risk (hco-)system to

ms representee.

onventional fregions of F

owland are aspite the fac2012, of aboud et al., 20

work are sma% of their Mereals (8 vser agriculturce an addedarms of the R and inorganreveals the work (7 180

of intensificaon of grasslaanatory factoufficient, whisis because tn in the moree and more one system tell shown inongly dependr to be more

es. While thin Europe.

mber statesensilaging o

Europe, whattensive grashe alpine beries or differre with low

nt to classifyregions and e and intens

to maintain ihere a risk ofo recover a ned in the SAN

farms sampleFrance, Le Rable to provict that these ut forty farm14) confirmsller on averaain Forage A20 ha). In sal working u-value and aRICA. These nic fertilizers real technicavs 1 490 €/A

tion/self-suffand in the for of the diffech are also the share of e intensive syintensive sy

to another. Tn the data od on the relae resilient, th

he focus preWe must no. In many c

or hay makingt is the intensland use slt of Southerent regions intensity (It

y the exact ucountries. T

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title dat

ed in the ‘AgRohéllec and vide good inc

systems recms of the SANs the results age than thoArea (MFA)) spite of a lowunit (AWU) (8an income bsavings rela(21 vs 92 €/

al performanAWU) (Peyra

ficiency basefodder area erences in tethe more g

f variable cossystems (0.10ystems) wheThis resiliencof the SAN ative prices ohey are also

eviously in Eow step forwcountries theg, however snsity of grasssuch as Irelrn Germany ain that coun

taly, Spain,

usage of graThe use of to establish

nces (here the products). ioning and

ppear thus ha

te

gricultural Mouchet

comes to ceive less N, mainly obtained

ose of the and thus

wer quota 88 454 vs efore tax te mainly /ha). The

nce of the aud et al.,

ed on the (1). The

echnique-grassland-sts in the 0 vs 0.13 ereas the ce of the network. of animal less able

European ward and e level of such data sland use and, UK, and parts ntries are Romania,

ssland to the term the level

he

aving a

9

Table 1.different c

CountryGermanIrelandAustria,France regionsPoland Swedenstates Netherl

Portugasheep a

ScientificPontes egrasslanpresent practices

In the NGrazing level.

The roGrasslanThere isrequiremof nationexposed combinaundocum

There ar

1. Wha

. Indoor feedcountries of E

y ny , UK , Slovenia

– mouns

n, Finland,

lands

al (beef and goats)

c advances met al., 2007) ds diagnosison farming

s. This appro

Netherlands are especial

ole of mnd species ans a large effment for the ns (Table 2)

to mid sumtions are m

mented when

re questions

at species are

ding days (caEurope. Source

Wi181012

tainous

Baltic

cattle,

0-9

made possiballow to pro agronomic tsystems and

oach aims to

projects likely used to to

multispecnd varieties afect of specsame pastur), the same mmer droug

more resiliencn establishing

to pose on t

e present in g

aused by wines:

nter days ind0 (north) – 20 -160 days0

90

ble by the fuopose the typtools. The md assess howimprove the

e Amazing Go improve th

cies grasand traits varies type on re species as

approach sghts and colce to monocg the DM pro

his topic

grassland reg

ter cold or s

doors 220 (south)

unctional apppes of grassl

methodology aw farmers u

e quality of th

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ssland ry within couDM produc

s others. In should be unld winters, sculture type oduction vari

gions?

ummer droug

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80% faday & n

75% bleast 12

270-36takes day&ni

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proach of velands (Cruz eaims to charuse the grashe grass at th

p://www.amaof grazing an

untries and vctivity and sothe context

ndertaken fospecies rich swards, yet

ation across

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0 days at gra

160 days

armers graznight

etween 6 – 20 days

5 (in most oplace d

ght).

airy cows aperiod

nently, partic

egetations (Cet al., 2010) acterize the

ss growth pohe moment o

azinggrazing.d to show th

vary widely dome countrieof benchmar

or pasture sppastures w

t much of tcountries.

title dat

mber of grazin

ass

zing of whic

8 hours per

of the areas, during all

are kept indods, somcularly in sm

Cruz et al., 2 that are thediversity of g

otential throof its use.

.eu/en) and hese benefit

depending ones will not rking DM propecies. In

with differentthese aspect

te

ng days in

ch 25%

r day at

grazing year,

oors for metimes mall size

2002 and e basis of grassland ugh their

Dynamic s at farm

n climate. have the oductivity countries t pasture ts remain

10

Table 2:

Grasslandtype

Permanegrassland

Permanetemporargrassland

Semi natural grassland

Permanenatural grassland

Sown rainfed biodiverslegume rpermanegrassland

Irrigated biod,permgrassland

Table 3 practices

2. Can

The avagrowth meteoronational particula

Summary of s

d Country

nt d

D

D

Ir

nt/ ry d

NL

d

nt

d

se rich nt ds

m. d

D

PT, E

PT, E

PT, E

allows to clas taking into

we predict t

ilability of a prediction wlogical modedatabase w

arly if linked t

some grasslan

Area/ region

North Germany

South Germany

All

Hilly and mountainous

areas

All

All

Center and South

Irrigated schemes

assify grasslaaccount the

the grass gro

national grawithin countreling based owill allow ato regional m

nd types and a

Utilisation

silage

silage

pasture

Silage / pasture

Meadow

Grazing

Grazing

Grazing + 1 cut for haylage

ands into 3 plant divers

owth?

ass growth dries. Most pron soil and actual data

meteorologica

attributes in E

Intensity (cuts per

a)

N

5

5 (6)

6 (7)

2

0

0

1 cut

functional tysity.

database wouredictions ofair temperatto be usedal data.

urope.

Number of

species

Yieldt

DM/

5-10 8-12

7- 5 8-12

5 9-16

25-65

10-50

6-20 spp/cvs

6-9 spp/cvs

4-7

1-3

3-6

12-2

ypes (AB, b

uld greatly af grass growture (Breretod to genera

d

/a

Protein content

%

2 18

2 18

6 18

7

3

6

20

12-14

6-16

8- 22

12-22

and C) and

assist the devwth capacity on, 1985). Tte regional

title dat

Energy value co

s

Lpe

Ta

AloprL

peDa

1.0UFL LoPoPoF

L

<0,7UFL

0.7-1.0

0,8-1.1

VB

HoAL

TrOrn

T.micTresOrnBiM

spp

Dac

T. rf

Lotarun

peDact

to diagnose

velopment oare genera

The developmgrass-grow

te

Most ommon species

Lolium perenne, araxacum

off.

opecurus ratense, Lolium

perenne, act. glom.

ol. per. ; oa prat.,

Poa triv., Fest. ar.

Lol. per.

Vulpia, Bromus,

Hordeum, Agrostis, Lolium,

Trifolium, rnithopus,

T.subt.,T. chelianum, supinatumrnithopus, iserrulla,

Medicago p., Lolium mult,

ctylis, etc.

repens, T. fragif.,, tus, Fest, nd, Lolium

perenne, ctylis glom.

foraging

of a grass ated from ment of a th rates,

11

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sif central mes. Measuremthe growth it up an obseruated by 5 dt type grass g

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pening of full flowerinf leaflet f cover

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es

domins

t objective of(benchmark J ), early cutther data frol evapotranstory against

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meat and goaINFO-PRAIRIheir practicetures, observs harvested ent grassland

on of grass g007). As longFor instance

d at the first

mountains inment of grass assumed trvatory of grdates of gragrowth (Benc

grassland tyassland practiaveraged da

a.fr/agir/ )

AB vity High pth Increas

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ng 800°C MediumStrong

Lolium tylis gca prlanatusTrifoliuTrifoliu

ant Taraxaspec.,

f this observstages): ou

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ds.

rowth can alg as the respe, the wegGRcut.

n France wss growth is to take placerass growth fssland practchmark).

ypes with hice date by acaily temperat

sed soil arly to earlyto 1000°C

m to large tufts of gras

m perenne, glomerata, Feratense, Hos,.. um prateum repens acum off., RuUmbelliferae

vatory is to atdoor herd, J), intermedither stationsan then be emark stages

ervatory is toms distributedongside eachfarmers on wn to the altegetative sta

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so be done bpective meteoRAS include a

where permaan essential

e in spring. Cfor three yeatices which r

ighest frequeccumulated avtures capped

b mediMediSoil llate1400medi

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assess the staherd to pasiate cutting (s in Massif cestimated fors.

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h county the weather (Advtitude and tages and moe gives farm

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anent grasslal tool to manChambers ofars. The grasrepresent the

ency in Francverage daily te

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um high um ess fertile

0°C um um carpet

ostis spec., Pense, enatherum e

taurea spec.

ate of the grture (300 ° (1000 ° .J), lcentral (rainr each year,

he real use oassif Central

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onitoring of tmers benchm

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ands represnaging grassf Agriculture ss growth is ne keys of a w

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rassland reso.J), end of tate cutting (

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title dat

sent the firss. In mountaof the Mass

not directly mwell utilizatio

r characterist(= total, start° C). HERB'A

ak eak allow soil ough early 00°C e nse and shorrpet stuca rubra, ina, Briza me

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13

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