The role of grasslands in intensive animal production in North-west Europe: conditions for a more sustainable farming system.

This chapter reviews the existing knowledge for developing productive, efficient and environmentally friendly dairying systems in North-west Europe based on grazing and grassland utilization and using levels of inputs that are as low as possible. It also discusses multi-species swards with forage legumes for improving the proportion of milk produced from grazed forages, grassland and herd management for improving the proportion of milk produced from grazed forages, and appropriate cow genotypes for successful temperate pasture-based systems.