Cows belong in pasture and should not be permanently kept indoors, according to guidelines on dairy farming published by junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma on Monday.

The document, issued on the eve of the end of EU milk quotas, calls on farmers to strengthen their ties with their land and the countryside.

The new rules require dairy farms to have enough land to allow the animals to spend time outside and to absorb their manure. From 2016, dairy farms which expand and produce more manure than in 2014 will have to show they have enough land to absorb up to half the excess.

European milk quotas, introduced 30 years ago to end butter mountains and milk lakes, will be abolished on April 1, allowing farmers to produce as much as they like.

Some experts say this will lead to further consolidation in the dairy farming sector and more cows being kept permanently in sheds.

Dijksma says by 2020, 80% of the cows held on Dutch dairy farms should be put out to pasture on a daily basis, up from around 70% in 2013. ‘The cow is an essential part of the Dutch landscape,’ she said.