Grazing is a critical element of farm management to save energy and water. However, the quantity and quality of grazed forage are highly dependent on climatic conditions. In French Atlantic regions, grazed grasslands currently provide forage in spring and autumn. But grassland production is much reduced in summer. Climate change will probably increase drought conditions in late spring and summer, and also the overall variability of annual grassland production. Trees and shrubs could provide a complementary forage resource on dairy cattle farms.



Integrating fodder trees and shrubs in a dairy cattle farm can provide additional fodder, contributing to of the farm resilience. And although planting trees reduces the available grazing area, the loss will be compensated once trees become productive. Double and triple row sets can become more beneficial than single row sets in terms of time needed to control the vegetation within the tree rows. Double and triple row sets also provide the opportunity to have e.g. a mix of different tree uses.



White mulberry and common ash leaves have sufficient digestibility and nitrogen degradability to be included in the diet of lactating cows in mixed crop-livestock systems, and their quality is higher than those of grasses or lucerne in summer. Lime, elm, Italian alder are also promising and may be used to feed ruminants with lower needs (e.g. suckler or dry cows).



Furthermore - integrating trees and shrubs can improve animal welfare by providing shade in summer and shelter from wind and rain in winter. The deep rooting of trees and shrubs also permits them to use soil nutrients and water resources not available to herbaceous plants, and hence to produce fodder without the need for fertilisers and irrigation.