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FS 3.203

European Mountain Livestock Farming: Challenges and Solutions

Details

Full Title
FS 3.203: European Mountain Livestock Farming: Challenges and Solutions
Scheduled
TBA
Location
TBA
Convener
Michael Feller
Co-Conveners
Maximilian Meyer, Alexander Röösli,
Assigned to Synthesis Workshop
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Thematic Focus
Agriculture, Ecosystems, Policy, Sustainable Development, Water Resources
Keywords
mountain livestock farming, alpine pastures, vertical transhumance, landscape, Alpwirtschaft

Description

European mountain farming and transhumance has a 1000-year tradition, providing services to society such as food production, recreation, cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation. Animal welfare is high, the products are original and conservation of open landscapes is desirable. But what does the future hold? The sector is faced by multiple challenges, including shrub encroachment, climate change-related water scarcity, heat stress and heavy precipitation events as well as conservation conflicts over wolves and bears. As mountain livestock farming is becoming increasingly professionalized, the number of people employed per animal is constantly decreasing. In parallel, presence of wolves and bears require more labor-intensive herd protection and lead to physical and psychological stress. Farms cannot keep pace with these developments, as pasture and farm management remain labor-intensive and therefore costly. As a result, labor force in mountain livestock farming is becoming increasingly scarce and some farms are abandoned. In this focus session we are looking for approaches on how mountain livestock farming, including transhumance, can be kept profitable, amid these multiple challenges. We are looking for contributions that analyze and provide technical, managerial and governance solutions from disciplines including (but not limited to) agronomy, ecology, economics, sociology, and livestock sciences. We are equally interested in disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches.

Submitted Abstracts

ID: 3.9906

The contribution of the vegetation to the resilience of farms in the face of climate change: a case study of agro-pastoral transhumant systems in the French Alps

Anne-Lyse Murro
JAUNATRE, Renaud; LOUCOUGARAY, Gregory; CROUZAT, Emilie

Abstract/Description

Agro-pastoral livestock farms use a variety of forage resources to feed their herds throughout the year. At the farmland scale, this diversity arises from the use of a variety of natural and cultivated grasslands and rangelands. It also largely depends on the mobility patterns of each farm, as described by the geographical and elevation gradients covered by these systems (e.g., transhumance to a summer mountain pasture). Climate change challenges the functioning of such systems by impacting feeding resources in terms of seasonal availability as well as quantity and quality of forage.

Therefore, addressing their resilience through systemic approaches appears necessary to understand the different ways in which farming systems respond to impacts of climate change on feeding resources. Biggs et al, 2015, proposed seven principles that contribute to building resilience in social-ecological systems (SES).

In this study, we explore the contributions of these seven principles to the resilience of agropastoral livestock systems in the face of climate change, focusing on their ability to make use of a diversity of vegetation types as feeding resources. We hypothesize that mobility patterns will interplay with specific utilizations of vegetation properties and assets.

Our research project focuses on the specific case of transhumant sheep farms in the French Alps. We selected 11 transhumant sheep farmers representative of a diversity of farm organisations and mobility patterns. This work is based on in-depth individual semi-directive interviews with farmers, supported by a spatially-explicit characterisation of their farmland in terms of the main types of vegetation and of their temporal uses.

Our results show that the seven principles contribute to building farms’ resilience, but to varying degrees and in differentiated ways. We were able to relate key aspects of vegetation-based resilience in farms to their transhumance gradient. For instance, short-distance transhumance farmers seem to rely more on vegetation diversity at farm scale while long-distance transhumant farmers tend to focus more on the temporal complementarity between alpine pastures and farmland.

This work contributes to the session’s reflections by showing how farmers following different transhumance patterns build on specific combinations of resilience principles, related to vegetation, to face climate change.

ID: 3.10279

Sustainable livestock grazing in Mediterranean mountains for insect conservation

Vassiliki Kati
Nasiou, Konstantina; Kassara, Christina; Petridou, Maria; Stefanidis, Apostolis; Zografou, Konstantina

Abstract/Description

Sustainable livestock grazing is challenging in Mediterranean mountainous grasslands, under the increasing aridity stress, stemming from global warming. We aimed to define the optimal range of stocking rate for insect diversity conservation in mountainous grasslands (1,470-1,850 m) in Pindos Mountain Range in Greece (nine mountains, including protected areas of the Natura 2000 network). We sampled 32 sites along a gradient of pasture quality (LAI-Leaf Area Index) and humidity (NDII-mean Normalized Difference Infrared Moisture Index). For three butterfly seasons (June-July-August 2024), we recorded 104 butterfly species across one transect (300 x 5 m) per site, and 14 microhabitat parameters across four plots (5 x 5 m) per site. During August, we recorded 47 Orthoptera species in the same plots. We produced the Time-Weighted Grazing Index (TWGI) (96 values: 32 sites X 3 seasons), by multiplying the Livestock Units/ha (data collected from interviews with 55 livestock farmers) with the number of grazing days/ overall days of the vegetation growth season, implying the butterfly flight period window. Pasture quality (LAI), humidity (NDII), vegetation height and cover, and flowerheads significantly decreased from June to August, and TWGI and litter cover increased. Models showed that TWGI negatively affected vegetation height, vegetation cover and flowerhead abundance, and positively litter cover. Models also showed that vegetation heights of 15–20 cm ensured the highest butterfly species richness and abundance (and a litter cover of 25-30% only for butterfly species richness). Orthoptera species richness peaked at 1,650–1,750 m elevation and 20–50% vegetation cover, with their abundance positively related to vegetation height and negatively to stone cover. Preliminary findings suggest a stocking rate of up to 0.041 LVU/ha in arid pastures (NDII0.2) to maintain adequate vegetation height and cover for butterfly and Orthoptera conservation in the high mountains. These results underline the need to define sustainable grazing management plans in the mountainous pastures accounting for both livestock farming sector sustainability and biodiversity conservation, under climate change. This study was funded by H.F.R.I. (LIVEMOUNT project).

ID: 3.11854

Project LIVEMOUNT: Achieving sustainability of livestock farming in the high mountains under climate change

Maria Petridou
Fotiadis, Giorgos; Adamidis, Giorgos; Yiotis, Charilaos; Vrachnakis, Michael; Kazoglou, Yannis; Gougoulias, Nikos; Kassara, Christina; Zografou, Konstantina; Tzortzakaki, Olga; Papaioannou, Haritakis; Nasiou, Konstantina; Nanopoulou, Ioanna; Stefanidis, Apostolis; Profitis, Stefanos; Oikonomou, Dimitrios; Kati, Vassiliki

Abstract/Description

LIVEMOUNT tackles the nexus of grazing-biodiversity-climate change in Mediterranean mountains. In compliance with the European Green Deal, the project contributes to sustainable livestock farming, through the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem function. We sampled 32 sites along a gradient of pasture quality (LAI-Leaf Area Index) and humidity (NDII-mean Normalized Difference Infrared Moisture Index) in 32 mountainous pastures (>1500m asl) across nine mountains (Natura 2000 network) of Pindos Mountain Range in Greece. We present here the methods employed and preliminary results obtained. We adopted a nested sampling, including a butterfly transect (300 m X 5 m) and four quadrats (5 m X 5 m) along it (75-100 m distance). Sampling took place in June 2024 (August for Orthoptera) and was repeated three times (June-August) for butterflies and microhabitat parameters. To assess biodiversity patterns, we recorded (i) 14 microhabitat parameters of topography, soil cover, vegetation structure and flowerheads(128 quadrats), (ii) 227 vascular plant taxa (2680 individuals) using the Braun Blanquet method (128 quadrats), (iii) 104 butterfly species (96 Pollard transects) out of which four protected species, and (iv) 47 Orthoptera species, out of which six red-listed/endemic species (128 quadrats). To assess ecosystem function, we measured (v) eleven soil parameters related to the physico-chemical properties and soil bulk density by collecting four soil samples per transect (0-20cm depth), (vi) the photosynthetic efficiency, the gas exchange capacity and the ecophysiological stress in 956 individuals of 49 plant species (74 quadrats) (vii) 408 functional traits of 46 dominant plant species (64 quadrats), and (viii) the above-ground biomass in three 50cmX50cm quadrats per plot (384 samples along all transects) by clipping vegetation at 1-2 cm height above ground to estimate the forage material and the grazing capacity of each site. At each site, we assessed the current stocking rate through semi-structured interviews with 55 livestock farmers, with values ranging from 0.0 to 1.8 Livestock Units per hectare. We will proceed in a combinative analysis of the above datasets to define the optimal range of stocking rate ensuring both biodiversity and ecosystem function maintenance and livestock farming sustainability under climate change. This study was funded by H.F.R.I.

ID: 3.11872

Beyond Wolves: Socio-Economic Challenges Faced by Mountainous Livestock Farmers in Greece

Maria Petridou
Kati, Vassiliki

Abstract/Description

Addressing human-wolf conflict is essential, yet traditional mitigation strategies often fail to consider the broader socio-economic difficulties confronted by mountainous livestock farming communities. Wolves are frequently blamed for more systemic challenges, including economic hardship, policy inadequacies, and rural depopulation. In this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 118 extensive livestock farmers (59 cattle and 59 sheep/goat farmers), grazing at altitudes ranging from 300 to 1920 m (average: 935m), with 78% engaging in short- or long-distance transhumance. We specifically explored: (a) farmer profiles and interactions with wolves, (b) professional challenges and suggested solutions, (c) reasons behind perceiving wolves as a primary problem, and (d) the influence of wolf presence on job dissatisfaction. Findings indicate that farmers have limited specialized education and low job satisfaction, particularly regarding income. Many struggle to hire or afford shepherds, with sheep/goat farmers facing the greatest difficulties. The poisoning of guardian dogs and dissatisfaction with the compensation system were common concerns. Major challenges included economic marginalization, wolf presence, climatic factors, insufficient grazing policies, infrastructure shortcomings, policy distrust, rural depopulation, and limited access to services. Farmers who viewed wolves as a primary threat tended to implement weaker preventive measures and move their herds seasonally over longer distances. Job dissatisfaction was linked to wolf presence, livestock type, and economic constraints. The study highlights that while wolves contribute to farmers’ challenges, economic and policy-related factors have a greater impact. Strengthening educational initiatives, implementing supportive policies, improving depredation prevention strategies, and ensuring fair compensation systems are critical for promoting sustainable livestock farming and coexistence with wolves in mountainous landscapes, where environmental and socio-economic challenges intersect. Addressing socio-economic difficulties, enhancing policies and assisting farmers in adapting to changing conditions will enable the livestock sector to thrive in mountain regions while reducing conflicts associated with wolves.

ID: 3.14055

Do donkeys grazing in woody-encroached Alpine pastures behave as mixed-feeders? A case study from Gran Paradiso National Park

Jacopo Volpe
Pittarello, Marco; Nota, Ginevra; Lonati, Michele; Lombardi, Giampiero

Abstract/Description

Since the 1950s, land abandonment has led to extensive encroachment of woody species – mainly shrubs and trees – on alpine grasslands, resulting in a marked decline in both forage quality and quantity. In response, silvopastoral systems involving livestock browsing woody vegetation, such as donkeys, have emerged as a promising tool for grassland restoration. The research was guided by three key questions: (1) do donkeys maintain a mixed diet that includes both herbaceous and woody plant species? (2) Are certain plant taxa selectively preferred or avoided? (3) Does the relative consumption of woody species reflect their environmental abundance? Aiming to answer these questions, the study investigated the foraging behaviour of a herd of 18 donkeys grazing an 11-ha pasture in Gran Paradiso National Park (NW Italy) during summer 2023. A total of 6,472 direct observations were conducted at a 15-second recording interval followed by a 20-second pause, with feeding stations defined as the spatial volume extending 2 meters above ground level and a 0.5-meter radius around the animal mouth. Both available and consumed plant species were recorded at species level, unless for the broad category ‘herbaceous species’. Relationships between availability and consumption were modelled using Generalised Additive Models (GAMs) and further explored using cluster analysis, which delineated three groups of plants: preferred, indifferently consumed, and rejected. The results showed that donkeys consumed predominantly herbaceous forage – which accounted for 66 to 96% of their diet – although they were also able to browse woody species and ferns (0-22%). Particularly, they showed a marked preference for Sorbus aria and Rubus idaeus, while largely avoiding other species, e.g. Betula pendula. Furthermore, the consumption of several species – especially Alnus viridis and Athyrium filix-femina – was directly related to their availability in the environment and increased proportionally as these species became more abundant. These results suggest that integrating donkeys into grazing management strategies may help mitigate woody encroachment, support biodiversity, and improve forage quality.

ID: 3.14059

Large-scale prediction of pastoral value using machine learning and remote sensing

Giacomo Marengo
Pittarello, Marco; Ravetto Enri, Simone; Lonati, Michele; Lombardi, Giampiero

Abstract/Description

European mountain grasslands are complex agro-ecosystems shaped by environmental conditions and long-standing agro-silvo-pastoral activities. Climate change and land-use transformations are impacting their extent and provision of ecosystem services, such as landscape aesthetics, pollination, cultural heritage, and above all feed provision, highlighting the need for sustainable and adaptive management strategies. One key indicator for assessing grassland productivity and carrying capacity for livestock is the Pastoral Value (PV), which varies from 0 (low) to 100 (high), traditionally calculated through field-based time-consuming and specialistic methods. This study pioneers a spatial modeling framework to predict PV using machine learning (ML) models and remotely sensed data, reducing the need for labor-intensive field surveys. We combined field data from 390 vegetation surveys (2014–2019) and 40 remotely sensed variables describing vegetation phenology, climate, and topography. Several ML models were tested and the Forward Feature Selection algorithm, based on random forest, demonstrated the best performance (RMSE: 6.85, R²: 0.41, MAE: 5.23). To ensure reliable predictions, we implemented a cross-validation method designed to mitigate spatial autocorrelation. The model successfully predicted PV for central values but exhibited some difficulty with extreme values, likely due to input data limitations and a lack of extreme training samples. Despite challenges in predicting the highest and lowest PV values, the study provides valuable insights into the spatial distribution of grassland yield and quality in the Western Italian Alps. This framework demonstrates the potential of combining ML and remote sensing to improve the scalability and reproducibility of grassland assessments. The use of freely available, ready-to-use remote sensing products further enhances its applicability for designing sustainable management systems and supporting landscape-level conservation efforts.

ID: 3.14065

Can grazing evidences be accurate proxies for stocking density? A case study from Gran Paradiso National Park validated with GPS collars

Giorgio Gervasio
Pittarello, Marco; Volpe, Jacopo; Lonati, Michele; Lombardi, Giampiero; Ravetto Enri, Simone

Abstract/Description

Alpine pastures are fundamental resources for mountain farming systems, providing high-quality forage for livestock. Grazing activities – including defoliation, trampling, and dung deposition – significantly influence vegetation composition by depleting biomass and modifying nutrient availability. Such impacts on grassland ecosystems can considerably vary, depending on the diverse environmental conditions and stocking density. Understanding livestock distribution is therefore essential for developing effective management strategies to balance vegetation availability and livestock needs. However, obtaining precise data on livestock distribution remains challenging. Indeed, direct method, such as GPS collars, yield detailed insights into grazing patterns, even if their high cost and labor-intensive implementation prevent their widespread adoption. Indirect method, i.e. spatial modelling through distribution probability maps, may not account for all relevant variables. A study conducted in a summer pasture within Gran Paradiso National Park (NW Italy, 1800-2400 m a.s.l.) investigated an 83-hectare area exploited by 100 Pustertaler-Barà cattle (87 LU). To assess livestock distribution over a 75-day grazing period, GPS collars were deployed on 10 selected animals. At the conclusion of the season, field assessments recorded grazing evidences – defoliation, trampling, and dung deposition – on 715 regular ground control points, employing a five-grade scale (1 = absence, 5 = extreme). The study aimed to determine which of these indicators most accurately represented site-use intensity, based on GPS fixes recorded within 5-meter buffers around each control point. The findings demonstrated that the three grazing indicators effectively captured variations in pasture frequentation. Among them, defoliation proved to be the most reliable, pointing out clear distinctions in grazing intensity except at the highest level. Dung deposition also showed a suitable performance, while trampling proved to be less reliable in differentiating between moderate, high, or extreme intensities. These results highlight the value of easily observable grazing indicators as practical tools for assessing site-use intensity by grazing livestock in extensive alpine pastures. This approach presents an opportunity of supporting effective pasture management strategies, mitigating vegetation degradation and promoting the sustainable management of mountain farming systems.

FS 3.202: Understanding Multi-Hazard Risk in Mountain Systems

FS 3.204: Transformative changes towards Living Well in mountains: How does it feel?

#IMC: September 14 - 18 2025

FS 3.203

European Mountain Livestock Farming: Challenges and Solutions

Details

Full Title

Scheduled

Location

Convener

Co-Conveners

Assigned to Synthesis Workshop

Thematic Focus

Keywords

Description

Submitted Abstracts

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

Abstract/Description

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Abstract/Description

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