Grazing - TODAY

Conservation Grazing Replaces Livestock Farming

By the second half of the 20th century, livestock farming in the Weinviertel had almost completely come to an end. This was due not only to the shift of agriculture towards crop farming but also to the replacement of work animals like oxen or horses by modern agricultural machinery.

As a result of abandoning pasture farming, the formerly open areas became overgrown, and the conversion of land into agricultural fields, along with land consolidation, further contributed to the decline of Pannonian dry and semi-dry grasslands.

Grazing by sheep to promote these open grassland landscapes is a major focus of the Nature Park's concept. However, this can only be maintained in specific areas and through the idealism of individual businesses, as the structures for pasture farming have largely been lost in the Weinviertel. Therefore, ongoing management interventions are necessary—mainly carried out by volunteers from the Mountain and Nature Watch— to clear overgrown areas and, in addition to dry and semi-dry grasslands, to promote the habitat type of juniper heath.

Where grazing is not possible due to financial or structural reasons, the poor meadows in the Nature Park area are mowed. However, mowing, with its radical cut and the homogenization of the area, results in lower biodiversity compared to grazed areas. Moreover, the correct timing of mowing to support a wide range of organisms, while also considering potential agricultural subsidies, poses a significant challenge.