Invloed mestbeleid met gebruiksnormen op weidegang

In the Netherlands there is a tendency for farmers to house their dairy cattle year-round. The new manure policy with usage standards seems to promote dairy cattle being housed continuously, since the usage standard depends on grazing. In this study the possible higher costs of keeping the cows in the meadow (or in the barn year-round) were computed for a manure policy with usage standards of 2009. In practically all computed farm situations the net return to labour and management remains higher for grazing than for cattle being housed. For farms on sandy soil with corn, however, the difference is small. Furthermore, there are certainly some factors that promote cattle being housed in the new manure policy. Mostly these are to do, however, with practical perception and cannot (or hardly) be quantified. Moreover, autonomous developments as such lead to an increase in cattle being housed continuously