The total number of cows in the Republic of Croatia has decreased by approximately 23 000 heads in the last five years, but the decrease in the total number of cows is most pronounced in the population of dairy and combined breeds, while the number of meat breeds and crossbred cows has increased continously in recent years. This is a good indicator of the growth and develompent of the pasture-based feed system, so the purpose of this paper was to present the main risks to herd health and production in general. The first part of the paper describes the pasture-based feed system of cattle (cow-calf sytem): breeding methods, stages of production and breeds that are most used in the Republic of Croatia. The second part describes diseases we encounter in the grazing system with the emphasis on digestive diseases, while the last part of the paper refers with the prevention of all the above and described risks. The future of this type of production in the Republic of Croatia exists since it is based on lower participation of human labor, lower investments in stable facilities and lower feeding costs, and the marketable product (calf) is extremely sought after on the market because for years we have been facing a shortage of domestic calves for beef production and as a country we depends on imports.