Measuring about 1070 ha, The Velika planina Plateau represents the largest Slovenian mountain pasture. In 2015 836 heads of cattle were grazing there (Kemperl 2016, Koželj 2016, Potočnik 2016). While the lowest areas are still covered by a sparse forest of spruce, larch, and beech, the higher parts are rockier and only small patches of dwarf pines are found there. Mountain pastures on The Velika planina Plateau have probably been exploited since prehistoric times. This assumption is supported by archaeological finds and some cultural relics (Cevc 1996, 2000). The first historical source mentioning The Velika planina Plateu dates back to 1538, when the Count of Kamnik Andreas Lamberg sued the people of the town, who claimed grazing rights to the mountain pastures above the Bistrica Valley (Žnidaršič Golec 2008). This document also indicates that in the Middle Ages there were horses on the mountain and not cattle, like today. The historical sources available indicate that The Velika planina Plateu belonged to the imperial estate managed by Kamnik noble families as far back as the early Middle Ages. In order to acquire grazing rights, farmers needed to pay compensation to the nobles (Velika Planina 2012). Information in the Theresian (1749–1754), Josephinian (1779), and Franciscean (1825) cadastral surveys shows that in the mid-eighteenth century there were 171 locals with the right to pasture their animals on the mountain (Velika Planina 2012).

Due to the livestock structure having been grazed there, The Velika planina Plateau was considered a mixed mountain pasture for a long time. The right to the mountain pastures could not be bought or sold separately from property, but it could be only inherited together with the estate. In the case of division of the property among several heirs, the right was allocated to one heir only. In the past there was also a rule on the number of livestock pasturing in the mountain: each beneficiary (rightful claimant) could pasture only the same number of animals as they could be fed with the fodder from his own estate. Because of constant disagreements among the herdsmen, it was finally decided in 1913 to split the area into three units: the Velika planina (literary Big mountain pasture), Mala planina (literary Little mountain pasture), and Gojška planina (named by village Gozd which literary means Forest) and set up borders between them. The rules have been no longer so strict; for example, one rightful claimant is allowed to bring more livestock as entitled, but it is required to pay for each additional animal, and so on. Together with grazing rights, beneficiaries also gain the right to build herdsmen’s huts. In 1913, a decree was adopted specifying the number of livestock units the grazing-rights holders were allowed to graze (twelve cattle for bigger owners and six head for smaller owners) and the amount of trees they were allowed to cut down on the plateau (16 m3 for bigger owners and 8 m3 for smaller owners). According to a source from 1913, 69 beneficiaries had grazing rights to Velika planina, 37 to Mala planina, and 61 to Gojška planina.