Breed-environment interaction of native Dutch cattle breeds in agroecological context

It has been suggested that local breeds might be more suited for agroecological systems compared with high-input, high-output breeds, such as the Holstein dairy breed. We investigated whether 3 native Dutch dual-purpose (NLdp) cattle breeds and the Holstein perform differently across herd environments. We compared 490 farms in the Netherlands that had breed fractions summing up to the equivalent of at least 10 purebred NLdp cows with neighboring farms with predominantly Holstein. Herd environment was characterized by 49 farm characteristics derived from national databases and included average animal performance, feed used, soil type, farm size, and use of concentrates and fertilizer. All traits were summarized into 4 principal component axes interpreted as production (levels and intensity), soil and feed use, agroecological practices, and level of crossbreeding. Most NLdp farms had a mixture of breeds or had predominantly crossbreds. Overlap between Holstein farms and NLdp farms was large, but NLdp farms had on average a lower production, were more locally concentrated, more agroecological and applied more crossbreeding. The NLdp breeds varied in this respect, with farms with Groningen White Headed (GWH) being present on more agroecological farms, Meuse Rhine Yssel cattle (MRY) more on farms on sandy soils with maize, and GWH and Dutch Friesian more on grass-based farms on peat and clay. For all traits, we observed a considerable breed by environment interaction, although Holstein had consistently higher milk production and MRY consistently higher protein content across all environments. Holstein had higher milk production on production-intensive farms compared with NLdp breeds, but NLdp breeds tended to have better performance for calving interval, SCC, and milk solids, and consequently outperformed Holstein in some environments. The NLdp cows did not consistently perform better than Holstein in agroecological herd environments. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for NLdp breeds in agroecological and other farm systems, depending on which traits are important.