More cows put out to pasture, but 30% still live permanently indoors
More Dutch dairy cows are being put out to pasture for the second year in a row, figures from statistics agency CBS show.
Of the 1.6 million cows in the Netherlands, 71% spent time outdoors in 2018, up three percentage points on 2017.
The number of dairy farms that are allowing cows to graze in the fields has grown too. Four in five dairy farms let their cows out in 2018, a number that has been growing steadily over the last three years.
However, one in five dairy farms, which account for 30% of all dairy cows, keep their animals in barns throughout the year.
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