From tufts of grass to living paradise
The cows of the Woerle dairy farmers are masters of natural landscape management. For example, if they bite or rub against trees, deadwood is formed and when walking in the meadow, depressions in the ground are formed. It is precisely in such places that wild bees, ground beetles and plants live. Just by grazing on pastures and alpine pastures, plants get growth impulses. Without reseeding, lush, species-rich meadows with up to 1.000 different plant species are created. A high level of plant diversity means nutrient-rich forage and healthy cows. In summer, the hay milk cows get a variety of juicy grasses and fresh herbs, some of which they use and let the rest flop onto the ground as cow dung.
Species-rich community
What might be disgusting and disturbing for some during late summer hikes is an important habitat for others. A fresh cow patty weighs up to 2 kg and a cow produces 8 to 10 patties a day. Insects love these cow pats. More than 1.000 insects can feed on one piece of cow dung - extrapolated, a hay milk cow feeds on two million flies and beetles per year. Even butterflies lick the crystallized salts out of the flatbread. The insects specialized in cow dung or their larvae are in turn the basic food source for countless bird species. Many insects and beetles use the mounds as breeding grounds for their eggs, or burrow into the soil beneath, providing safe and warm nurseries for their larvae and loosening the soil in the process. The cow dung still contains important residual nutrients and seeds from plants, which the burrowing insects get into the soil and thus increase soil fertility and allow new plants to grow.
Nothing lasts forever - but everything starts all over again
As soon as the cow dung is laid down on the ground, the inevitable aging and crumbling process begins. Many species of fungi, yeasts and bacteria develop in the drying patty, together with insects such as centipedes or earthworms, which accelerate the decomposition of the patty and it gradually ends up in the soil as fertilizer. Due to the natural fertilization of the flatbread, the grass usually grows luxuriantly all around, resulting in a wide variety of turf heights, so-called "horny spots", which offer a home and protection for many different butterflies, beetles or bugs. In the period that follows, grass and hay flowers grow again in these places, which in turn are eaten by cows, digested and excreted elsewhere as fresh cow dung and offer new insects a unique biotope.
That is why the cow and her flatbread are important for biodiversity
The cows have become an integral part of the history of grasslands. Over the past few millennia, they have been instrumental in the formation of fertile and Co²-storing humus soil and have contributed to the fact that around a third of global carbon is stored in meadows worldwide.
Especially in the hay industry, the responsibility for the preservation of biodiversity on our local meadows is taken seriously because it is particularly important for the health of animals and people. The cows make an important contribution here, creating certain patterns of vegetation structures and shaping the habitat of many plant and insect species. The meadows are therefore an indispensable part of the livelihood of us humans, where the connections between the development of the different living beings have often been forgotten.
Grasshoppers, butterflies & co need cows and the cow dung becomes a symbol of an eternal circular economy and the preservation of important functions in the ecosystem.
