Health and performance of dairy cows in organic farming from an interdisciplinary point of view – an (intervention-) study on metabolic disorders and mastitis with regard to forage production, feeding management and husbandry practices
Abstract
This project focuses on the development of prevention-oriented health management strategies for metabolic disorders and udder health in organic dairy farms and to validate this approach through an interdisciplinary on-farm intervention study. Metabolic and udder health in organic dairy cows before and after partition as well as the influence of feed, nutrition and husbandry conditions are at the core of this project. A national field survey of 100 organic dairy farms will be used to assess the risk of metabolic disorders and udder disease The study considers production systems and plant composition of feed from grassland and ley farming, composition of feed rations, feed quality, housing conditions and milk quality to show how individual farm risk estimates relate to the metabolic and udder situation. The results will help optimize management and plan treatments. The study relies on a small team of scientists and consultants who interact with the farms. They will conceive methods to survey animal-based parameters of udder and metabolic health as well as of reproductive and claw health. Regular monitoring and comparisons will assure reliability of on-farm data collection. The selected farms, including selected ones from the German Federal Organic Farming Program, represent different production systems at different locations throughout Germany. The farms are both a source of data and an opportunity to transfer the results. A second part of the study focuses on three organic experimental stations with a total of 225 dairy cows. Basic questions on feed and drying off management as well as on extensive farming will be considered. The experimental approaches will also be used to supplement the field results. Another focus of the study is to create sustainable communication structures to enable the transfer of knowledge among scientists, consultants and farmers.
keywords Dairy cattle animal welfare animal health organic farming null
Publikationen
Project staff
Christoph Winckler
Univ.Prof. Dr.med.vet. Christoph Winckler
christoph.winckler@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93221
Project Leader
15.06.2007 - 30.04.2011
BOKU partners
External partners
Universität Göttingen - Forschungs- und Studienzentrum für Veredelungswirtschaft Weser-Ems
Jan Brinkmann, Solveig March
partner