Rotational crossbreeding can be faster and more effective than pure breeding in improving the functional traits of cows and developing robust dairy cattle systems. However, this practice remains uncommon worldwide. This is largely assumed to be due to a scarcity of knowledge on dairy crossbreeding schemes and their benefits for cows and herd performance. However, crucial questions remain: Why do so few technical references exist? Why and how do some farmers embrace this practice despite the lack of guidance? To answer these questions, we adopted a sociotechnical view of dairy crossbreeding to characterize the factors that drive, support, and impede its development in France. We qualitatively analyzed 73 articles from two French technical journals on dairy cattle and semi-structured interviews of 17 dairy cattle farmers who practice crossbreeding and 15 representatives of key stakeholders in the sector. Using all these data, we identified three drivers of using dairy crossbreeding: technical problems related to breeding highly specialized purebred cows, the shift towards more sustainable and resilient dairy cattle systems, and a desire to regain decision-making autonomy in farm management. Based on farmers’ interviews, it became evident that they developed know-how “on the job” and created new support networks to overcome impediments that were primarily cognitive/cultural but also technological and market-driven; with these resources, they progressively turned away from the mainstream sociotechnical regime. Based on stakeholders’ interviews, we characterized four groups that limited the development of dairy crossbreeding and one that supported it, and we identified organizational, cognitive/cultural, technological, and economic barriers—many of which were interrelated and self-reinforcing—to its use. These findings demonstrate that dairy crossbreeding is widely recognized as beneficial for the sustainability of dairy cattle farms but remains uncommon in France due to the sociotechnical lock-in of the dairy sector around both pure-breeding and high-specialization paradigms of herd management.

在改善奶牛的功能性状和发展健壮的奶牛系统方面，轮转杂交比纯种更快，更有效。但是，这种做法在全球范围内并不常见。这在很大程度上被认为是由于缺乏关于奶牛杂交计划及其对奶牛和牛群性能的益处的知识。但是，关键问题仍然存在：为什么很少有技术参考文献存在？尽管缺乏指导，一些农民为什么以及如何接受这种做法？为了回答这些问题，我们采用了乳品杂交的社会技术观点来表征驱动，支持和阻碍其在法国发展的因素。我们定性分析了来自两个法国奶牛技术期刊的73篇文章，并对17名从事杂交的奶牛农民和该领域主要利益相关者的15名代表进行了半结构式访谈。使用所有这些数据，我们确定了使用奶牛杂交的三个驱动因素：与高度专业化纯种牛育种相关的技术问题，向更具可持续性和弹性的奶牛系统的转变以及希望在农场管理中重新获得决策自主权的愿望。根据农民的访谈，很明显，他们在“工作中”积累了专门知识，并建立了新的支持网络，以克服主要由认知/文化，技术和市场驱动的障碍。有了这些资源，他们逐渐摆脱了主流的社会技术制度。根据利益相关者的访谈，我们将四个限制乳品杂交发展的小组分为一个小组，一个小组对其进行了支持，并确定了组织，认知/文化，技术和经济方面的障碍（其中许多是相互关联且自我强化的）采用。这些发现表明，奶牛杂交被公认为有利于奶牛场的可持续发展，但由于围绕纯育种和高专业化畜群管理模式的乳业领域的社会技术锁定，在法国尚不常见。以及使用它的经济障碍（其中许多是相互关联和自我强化的）。这些发现表明，奶牛杂交被公认为有利于奶牛场的可持续发展，但由于围绕纯育种和高专业化畜群管理模式的乳业领域的社会技术锁定，在法国尚不常见。以及使用它的经济障碍（其中许多是相互关联和自我强化的）。这些发现表明，奶牛杂交被公认为有利于奶牛场的可持续发展，但由于围绕纯育种和高专业化畜群管理模式的乳业领域的社会技术锁定，在法国尚不常见。