Switzerland is a grassland
The climate, soil and topography of Switzerland are ideal for the production of grass, also known as roughage. It is for this reason that entire cultural landscapes are characterised by meadows and pastures. Grass is the staple food for ruminants such as cows, sheep and goats. They convert this into meat or milk. Roughage includes grasses, clover and herbs. Depending on the location and cultivation type, different plants grow on the meadows. The most important grasses comprise ryegrass, cocksfoot and dogstail. In the case of clover, the most important varieties are red clover, white clover, sainfoin and alfalfa.
During the vegetation period, livestock eat fresh grass outside. For winter feeding, farmers provide the grass in a preserved form. This may be hay, aftergrass or silage. Hay is the dried first cut taken from meadows during the early summer. Aftergrass is the name given by farming families to subsequent cuts. This often contains more clover as it grows back quickly. For this reason, the protein content of aftergrass is higher than in hay.
Grass can also be preserved as silage. Here, the cut grass is briefly dried before being stored in an airtight manner. This may take place in silo bales or covered flat or high silos. As no more oxygen reaches the grass, lactic acid fermentation takes place. The principle is the same as for sauerkraut. In addition to roughage, maize or cereals are also suitable for silage. Silage can also lead to faulty fermentation during cheese production. For this reason, cows whose milk is used to produce raw milk cheese are not given silage.
Some 86% of the feed given to Swiss dairy cows is roughage. The remainder is made up by concentrated feed comprising feed wheat, grain maize or soya. Fodder beat and potatoes are also good providers of energy.
