Grazing contracts designed to protect biodiversity are becoming common fare although the question of appropriate practices has not yet been settled. This inspired the study, undertaken by the HERBIVORIE research network, of the impact of herbivores on plant dynamics in mountain areas. We interviewed herders who rear dairy cows which they claimed were perfectly able to graze on steep, bushy slopes in the Bauges mountains (northern French Alps). The survey was carried out using comprehensive interviewing techniques. Several reasons encourage the herders to graze their animals on steep slopes: urbanisation, gentler grasslands reserved for haymaking and dairy cows milked in the pastures, financial incentives to use grazing as a method to control scrub encroachment. Yet, current technical models discourage farmers from grazing non-controlled areas except with specialised breeds. We observed herders using steep uneven, bushy terrain for grazing dairy breeds (from the Holstein to the Tarine). All of them feel that the capacity to make best use of these lands can be traced to appropriate animal rearing practices, far more than to breed characteristics. Some herders are careful to teach their young cattle to use steep sloped lands. They say this is important because cows raised on lowland pastures are clumsy in the mountains and are accident-prone. They consider "education" to mean taking calves as young as 6-8 months old, and then heifers, to graze on special plots. These educational techniques and the behavioural diversity described by the herders raise the question of the "culture" of domestic herbivores and the role of herders in inter-generational transmission of the herd's skills. It may be profitable to encourage these practices and to include these learning areas in agro-environmental contracts