Did you know that, in France, there are over 20 different breeds of dairy cow? The Prim’Holstein, Montbéliarde and Normande form the majority of French stock. However, professionals in search of diversity and quality are also working on maintaining and reintroducing many other dairy cow breeds. Here are a few descriptions.
Cows are herbivores. They feed on fresh grass or hay or corn (a plant fully cut up and stored as silage), beetroot (grown in the summer months and stored for wintertime), cereals (what, barley, oats), meal (what remains of the oilseed when the oil is extracted). In France, 98% of fodder is produced on the farm, 50% of which is grass for grazing.