Interviews with Finnish dairy producers shed light on the place of pasture access in modern dairy farming and its significance for animal welfare.
As dairy farms in Finland shift to freestall barns, automatic milking systems, and larger herds, the once-standard practice of summer pasture grazing becomes increasingly rare.
Still, some producers continue to graze their cows while others have abandoned the practice. Both approaches have their own merits. Well-implemented grazing improves animal health and welfare while also enhances farmland biodiversity and landscape values. Keeping cows indoors, on the other hand, makes production easier for large farms that may lack sufficient pastures near the barn.
When making Decisions about grazing farmers do not simply weigh grazing against other options in a neutral way, a new study based on in-depth interviews with 15 Finnish dairy producers reveals. Instead, producers tend to emphasize the animal welfare benefits that their own production type delivers best, while downplaying aspects it does not provide.
The producers interviewed operated different types of farms: traditional tie-stall barns, where summer grazing is required by law; freestall barns with partial or full-time grazing and freestall barns without grazing. Farm type largely predicted how producers viewed grazing. Most farmers who continued grazing saw it as fundamental to animal welfare. Those who had abandoned the practice considered it unnecessary, pointing instead to the benefits of a freestall barn, such as freedom of movement indoors, a reliable supply of high-quality feed, and controlled conditions.
"This kind of thinking points to a feedback loop, in which farming practice shapes attitudes just as attitudes shape practice," says , senior university lecturer who led the study.
Discussions with the farmers revealed how grazing has become a focal point for broader tensions between producers, consumers, dairy companies, and policymakers - touching on animal welfare, the human-animal relationship, the realities of modern production, and environmentally friendly practices. Consumers say they want grazing but don't buy the organic dairy products that guarantee it. Some farmers speak out against grazing in social media discussions, while others use it as a trump card in defending livestock farming. Producers lament that consumers are detached from farming realities, yet disappearance of cows from landscapes deepens the divide.
"The disappearance of grazing cows from the countryside isn't just a production choice made farm by farm. It's reshaping how the public sees Finnish dairy farming," Herzon says.
"This question deserves an open, honest discussion, rather than being settled quietly through regulation, marketing, or simply letting the trend run its course."
The study has been published in the Journal of Rural Sociology.
