On alpine pastures, measures for controlling problematic plants are limited. Nevertheless, grazing offers many options, with goats e.g. able to reverse the advance of green alder.
Alpine pastures are increasingly overrun with green alder, with steep and remote sites as well as marginal-yield sites with low stocking density being particularly affected. The unchecked expansion of green alder spells the end of pastureland and its biodiversity.
In this video, Julia and Martin Patzen describe how their goats help control green alder on their mountain pastures in the Madris Valley, canton of Grisons. Manuel Schneider, mountain farming expert at Agroscope, provides background knowledge on controlling green alder. Particularly in regions where mechanical control is unsuitable, goats are the ideal means of debushing, reducing the workload of pasture-management over the long term.
A joint production of Agroscope, Agridea, FiBL, Büro Alpe and the ‘Alpine and Mountain Farming’ Experimental Station, this video with multilingual subtitles aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience between scientists and practitioners.
