In mountainous areas of Japan, there is an urgent need to develop animal husbandry that incorporate grazing systems. Because grazing systems can use effectively crop fields that can no longer be cultivated due to the declining rural population and can also be expected to profit by the calf production at low cost. In our group, we are working on the development of a grazing system suitable for mountainous areas of Japan. In detail, we try the following issues: 1) development of a grazing and pasture management to extend a grazing period, especially in midsummer season when grass withers, 2) development of a smart grazing system to increase the productivity and quality in the areas, 3) development of cow-calf-fattening systems utilizing local resources.
