In Burgundy, one third of the farms are specialised in beef cattle systems in which permanent grassland is the main feed resource. Forage production to meet animal requirements remains one of the main concerns of beef cattle farmers. Technical references on fertilisation, pasture management or sowing more productive species are available. Despite of this favourable context, farmers buy hay and straw, or use concentrates to compensate for the lack of forage resources. In order to identify the factors of dissemination and adoption of technical innovations in the forage domain, we characterized grasslands management in sixty-three farms chosen according to: (i) farm size and stocking rate; (ii) range of fodder crops. We analysed: (i) balance between grazing and cutting; (ii) proportion of permanent grasslands in the forage system, especially for hay or silage. The diversity of sown species and duration of temporary grasslands, the use of wrapping, as an innovative harvesting technique, are discussed
