Workshop on animal husbandry in natural resource management for animal keepers and land owners

On thursday june 17 2021 a workshop on grazing in natural areals took place in Farum Sortemose in Øvre Mølleådal. The main target groups for the workshop were animal keepers and land owners associated with Rigkilde-LIFE.

The focus of RigKilde-LIFE are the wet habitats petrifying springs, alkaline springs and calcarous fens and the subject of the workshop was the specific problems associated with having grazing animals in these types of areas. The workshop took place at a farm owned by one of the participants in the project.

The workshop included three presentations with different topics. The first presentation was from Anders Michaelsen from Natur360. He spoke about the wet habitats, how they are formed, what are their characteristics and why it is important to manage them. He also gave som examples of plant species that you can find in the different habitats to help landowners recognize the types of habitats on their own land.

The second presentation was from Per Maribo, who is a professional animal keeper from Naturkvæg.dk. His herds graze in wet habitats and he told of his own experiences and gave advice on how to succeed with grazing in wet habitats. His presentation included examples of good races of cows to use in wet habitats, how to introduce the animals to the areas, and how to keep stock on the animals, problems with specific illnesses, how to assess their overall feeding conditions and so on.

Andreas Höll from Agrovi held the last presentation on the topic of subsidies and the regulations for animal grazing in natural areas. He gave advice on applying for subsidies and what to have in mind to adhere to the regulations.

The participants asked questions, discussed and talked in between and there was a good exchange of their own experiences.

The workshop was attended by app. 25 participants of which 15 were private animal keepers and land owners. The rest were employees from the participating municipalities and state department. They represented a wide range of animal species and races from horses to cows, sheep and even water buffalos.