FAQ

'Natural grazing' is the practice of grazing by native large herbivores, that live as naturally as possible. 'As naturally as possible' means that the animals are outside in natural areas all year round and throughout their entire lives: from birth to death. Humans intervene as little as possible. The animals form their own bonds and connections with other grazers, as do they choose where to graze, drink and rest.

Before humankind started impacting the landscape and hunted animals intensively, all kinds of large grazers could be found in our ecosystem. Think of wild cattle and horses, roe deer, red and fallow deer, but also native species such as European bison and elk. Each species has a different diet and displays different behaviour. One species can even make an area better suitable to another species. Cattle, for example, thrive on high grass and rough terrain. Following in their footsteps are horses, whom like a more open landscape and shorter grass. But also less conspicuous herbivores have great influence on the diversity of nature and landscape. Think about caterpillars that defoliate forests and crops, grazing waterfowl that eat bare banks and beavers that gnaw down trees.

Large grazers are the basis of a varied landscape of flowery grassland shrublands, woodlands and thickets, in which thousands of plant and animal species flourish. A significant proportion of all plants and animals on earth are found in grasslands, shrublands, forest edges and all the transitional zones in between. All these species existed long before humans started altering the landscape, by mowing and cutting the vegetation.

Large grazers naturally provide such variety in a landscape. But how does that work? Wild grazers roam outside all year round, in numbers that match the amount of food available in the most scarce season.

In summer, there is an abundance of food. Plants are not eaten off as much and thus have a chance to bloom and spread seeds. Trees and shrubs can grow up peacefully.

In winter, there is less food and the grazers supplement their diet with bark, buds and twigs. Trees and shrubs are thus naturally pruned. The biodiversity in transitional zones between short grass and upright forest is enormous.

Numerous seeds are stuck in the coats of the large grazers, who disperse them as they wander through the terrain. Manure offers a habitat for dung beetles and many other insects. They, in turn, provide a tasty meal for badgers and birds. Grazers also spread the seeds of grasses, herbs, trees and shrubs in their manure.

Young and old animals, males and females: each individual use an area in their own specific way. Once there are several male animals in a natural area, they will compete over females. Bulls tend to make 'bull pits' to impress each other. Many pioneer plants are highly dependent on these sandy, open areas, as do lizards, digger wasps and sand bees. Old bulls or ejected young stallions occupy parts of a landscape that other animals don't tend to visit. To compete for hinds, male red deer show up in different parts of their habitat during the rut, than they do during the rest of the year. On the other hand, protection from predators actually drives animals back together. Food, mutual combat and predation thus determines both the composition and size of herds and the distribution of animals within the landscape. As a result, the spatially varied grazing behaviour creates a rich and biodiverse landscape.

Any breed or type of grazer that originally belonged in a certain area, is able to naturally graze the landscape. Knowledge about the original distribution of species since the last Ice Age is still expanding. A lot of discussion arises around descendants of the extinct aurochs and the wild horse. All domestic cattle and horse breeds in Europe are ultimately descended from either.

There are still several primitive breeds of horses and cattle to be found in Europe, which by rewilding and de-domestication can develop natural traits within a few generations of reproduction. These traits include the ability to defense themselves against wolves, growing a short summer and thick winter coat, able to use the terrain in a natural way natural and successfully give birth and grow their offspring without interference. These animals would eventually be able to live completely independently and be fully considered 'wild'.

Some breeds descend from just a limited number of founder animals. Because of this, their genetic variation is limited. Throughout Europe, several breeding programs aim to obtain an animal similar to the extinct aurochs, using different founder breeds.

We tend to advise to use different breeds in different places, preferably breeds that originally belong to that local area. 

Yes, they do, but not in such a way that existing forest totally disappears or that they prevent forest development at all. Grazers slow down forest succession in such a way, that a semi-open mosaic landscape remains intact for longer. Because grazers nibble trees and peel tree bark in the winter, they stop the sap flow, which means not all trees survive. Young trees germinating and growing up in open terrain have a though time to withstand grazing. However, armed with spines, poisons or through root shoots, they eventually conquer the open ground. In many cases, grazing even creates the conditions for the return of forest to open land by spreading seeds through manure and via their coats, or by creating suitable germination sites for tree seeds. Through this combination of forest formation in one place and forest degradation in another, the forest seemingly 'moves' through the landscape.

Free-roaming herds of large grazers exert great attraction on people: they offer a sense of wilderness experience. In many nature reserves where large grazers live, people are welcomed. Even off the beaten path. An encounter with the animals is highly likely to happen. Keeping the animals at a distance is key, especially when there are newborn foals and calfs present. A social herd, in which old and young animals, males and females live together, responds more calmly to the public, than a herd of only heifers, or a couple of females and a single bull. Animals growing up in social herds are taught by their families how to behave toward each other, but also how to behave towards the outside world. For example, bulls and stallions only fight with conspecifics for dominance in the herd. In general, they are way more concerned with each other, then they are with visitors passing by.

Locally, yes: just think of the latrines of horses and favourite resting places of cattle, where relatively large amounts of manure are accumulated. However, because natural grazing does not involve supplemental feeding or fertilization, there is only movement of nutrients within the habitat. If manure accumulates in one place, it leads to impoverishment in other places. This creates varied mosaics of nutrient-poor and nutrient-rich places within a single natural area.

Research indicates that the effect of large grazer droppings on groundwater is zero, compared to a variety of other sources of pollution. In natural grazing, the density of animals is much lower than in livestock. In dune areas, the risk caused by human fecal matter from recreationists was found to be greater than that of any other animal. Because natural grazing leans on the self-reliance of the animals, grazers are generally not medicated. In contrast, farm animals are regularly treated preventively with medication that's difficult to break down, and continue its way into the environment.

People direct as little as possible in natural grazing: nature itself is at the helm. However, the law and practice do require guidance on a few aspects of natural grazing:

• Inviting and informing local residents and visitors. Some important questions can be best answered by the herd manager, such as: why are there grazers here? What do you do when you encounter large grazers? What is the difference between semi-wild grazers and farm animals?
• Number regulation and selection of grazers. In small areas and in areas without large predators, the herd manager takes out some of the animals from the area on a yearly basis,  so that the numbers are in balance with the food supply.
• Prevention of damage and nuisance. With smart practical measures and number regulation, damage to farmland or dangerous traffic situations can be prevented.
• In many cases, grazers are legally stated as 'kept animals'. A duty of care applies and animals must be individually registered (ear tag for cattle, chip and passport for horses).

Many natural areas only have a limited surface area. The areas are almost always fenced in or they are surrounded by farmland, owned by farmers that would rather not see semi-wild large grazers live close to his own cattle. Large predators such as wolf and lynx are often absent. Natural processes such as migration, disease and predation have limited space.

Surprisingly, natural grazing turns out to be perfectly feasible within all these limitations, as long as it's being properly managed.

The larger an area the, more the herd manager can step back. But, it is possible for large grazers to help creating a rich and biodiverse ecosystem, even in small areas in an urban environment. FREE Nature has proven to do this successfully in the highly urbanised surroundings of both Amsterdam and Rotterdam. However, little adaptation is often needed. There, the herd manager is forced to intervene sooner, for example because rejected young stallions or bulls cannot acquire a territory of their own. Natural migration needs to be replaced by a transport vehicle to another area.

In large parts of Europe, human population is declining. Old farming methods are no longer sufficient and people are flocking to the cities. The ground they leave behind, are often ancient cultural landscapes in low mountain ranges or river deltas. In these areas there is plenty of room to develop a varied landscape using wild grazers. Moreover, their presence and the nature they bring, may even become an attractive tourist attraction, bringing a new economic impulse to the local area.

The link between cows, horses and agriculture is quickly made. There is a big difference, however. Natural grazing involves self-reliant animals living with as little human control as possible: this includes cattle and horses, as well as all other large grazers. Agriculture is focused on food production and the animals there are a means of production. This is totally different approach, that becomes even more clear in practice.

To begin with breed choice: breeds suitable for natural grazing produce no milk and just very little meat for humans. Most cattle breeds are no longer able to survive without human interference. For centuries, we have changed cattle and horses to our needs, both when it comes to production and ease of handling. This has resulted in traits such as early maturity, large udders and rapid muscle development. Such traits are very inconvenient in any natural situation. Dairy cows have such hefty udders, that they can no longer walk unscathed through rough terrain. Unborn calves are sometimes so large, that they can only be born by caesarean section. In addition, high-producing cattle need special food that is not available in nature (such as soy).

In general, production animals can no longer live on a natural diet of flowering herbs and shrublands in the summer, and less digestible bark and twigs in the winter. In an agricultural system, livestock graze in large non-social groups during the summer, making the animals grow substantially in size and muscle mass. Livestock has eaten all plants away before they flower and seed, resulting in little to no food and cover for insects and birds. In winter, the cattle are stabled, so trees and shrubs are hardly getting pruned or peeled, which may eventually cause woody vegetation to dominate an area.

Europe is home to wild sheep too: mouflons. Mouflons, like ibexes and chamois, naturally live in mountainous regions. When in danger, they flee up steep cliffs to safety. Other sheep breeds have been developed from wild breeds through domestication.

Sheep do not naturally occur in the Netherlands: their natural flight behaviour doesn't work in our very flat landscape. Neither have sheep co-evolved with our native plants, unlike other large grazers. With sheep grazing you therefore often see that the vegetation is completely eaten away and only a few flowering plants remain. The natural defense strategies of these plants against being eaten, fails with sheep and goats. In this reasoning, natural grazing with sheep isn't a good fit within the Netherlands: however it can be in other parts of Europe.

As such, no. However, providing natural grazing as an ecological service requires guidance and attention. Most of the costs come from certain demands from today's society: cattle and horses are usually legally raised animals subject to regulations (often originating in agriculture), animals must be registered and made identifiable, supplementary feed must be provided in exceptional cases, grids and signage require maintenance and public information and guidance requires continued attention.

Managing nature areas by enrolling farm animals often seems to cost nothing. The farmer is usually all to happy to bring his cows to graze. However, when the various agricultural subsidies are taken into account, the social costs of grazing by farmed animals are higher than in the case of natural grazing. 

Natural grazing creates a surprising and varied landscape that many recreationists enjoy. The grazers create little walkways throughout their habitat, making an area exciting and accessible to visit for humans too. Visitors need places to eat, drink and stay the night, rent a bicycle or take a guided tour. Research shows that such a 'nature based'-economy certainly pays off.