The choice of breed and breeding policies in organic dairy or beef herds should preferably be based on local breeds and/or breeds that are well suited for the production system chosen.
Whilst most beef and dairy breeds are well suited to free-range systems, in beef production the use of traditional, early maturing breeds will probably better suit an organic, forage-based system. It has also been suggested that high-yielding, high genetic merit dairy cows would be unsuited for organic feeding systems. Very little research has, however, been carried out on the milk production characteristics of organic dairy cows.