Grazing with Cattle, Sheep and Horses in Mols Bjerge

So- called half-cultural areas like meadows, heaths and pastures can today - as a part of nature conservation - be preserved by grazing with cattle, sheep and horses.

 



Cattle 
Cattle is ideal for nature conservation . They eat the grass and don't like the bitter tasting flowers like buttercups. Furthermore they do not graze by the cow dungs. In this way several plants will be allowed to flourish for the benefit of the propagation of flowers and insects.

In public areas a specially developed forest breed is used, which is a crossbreed between 2 Danish dairy breeds and 9 various beef breeds. They are though animals , adapted for grazing in nature land all year.

At the Mols laboratory small longhaired cattle of the Galloway race is used. They are imported from Scotland and have the same properties as the breeds mentioned above.




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A cute Galloway calf - just look at those eyelashes!

 
Sheep 
Sheep are especially good for nursing the archaeological sites, the slopes and other vulnerable places. Sheep are better than cattle to keep trees and bushes down, but their grazing results in a more flower-poor cover of plants. Icelandic sheep are used at the land of the Mols laboratory.




Horses.
Horses are used in a few places in Mols Bjerge for nature conservation. Horses are better than cattle and sheep to eat the wavy hair grass, which is the most common grass in the open fields. Unfortunately the horses are not well-suited where the public is allowed to go because of their curious and restless behaviour.   
  

 

a small part of Øvre Strandkær's buildings

Mols Laboratory is owned by Naturhistorisk Museum in Aarhus. It is used as a field lab by scientists and students from universities and colleges.

Øvre Strandkær is a property of Miljøministeriet (Ministry of Environment). Here is an exhibition and from here is managed the forest-district's cattle-herd , ab. 200 animals, which are used for nature conservation. at Mols and Helgenæs. They are peaceful animals, which thrive in the nature land all year.

photo: grethe bachmann. 
source: Aarhus Amtskommune Naturafdelingen.