Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html
Abstract
140
Impact matrix: a tool to improve animal health by a systemic approach
SUSANNE HOISCHEN-TAUBNER, ALBERT SUNDRUM
Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health,
Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Germany,
www.uni-kassel.de/agrar/tiereg, susanne.hoischen@uni-kassel.de
Multifactorial diseases are a serious matter not only in conventional but also in organic livestock
production. Due to the fact that the farm specific status of animal health is determined by the interaction
of risk factors within the farm system, a systemic approach has been developed for organic
pig farming. By making use of an impact matrix, the interactions of 22 health relevant variables
were evaluated and their systemic roles calculated on 10 organic farms. Variables in an ‘active’
role indicated the most effective measures. The set of ‘active’ variables on the pig farms differed
between 6 and 12, mostly different variables. Moreover, most of the variables were found in various
systemic roles. The ranking of variables, regarding the impact on animal health, differed widely
between the farms. The impact matrix shows options to identify the most effective measures to improve
animal health in the farm specific situation, taking the interconnections of risk factors into
account.
Key words: fattening pigs, impact matrix, systemic approach
Introduction
Animal health status in organic farming, in general, does not differ from conventional production
and as such does not meet the expectations of consumers with respect to healthy animals as a precondition
of healthy food. Meeting customers’ demands is essential to sell products with premium
prices, which are needed to cover the higher production costs in organic farming.
In general, production diseases are of complex aetiology. Previous on-farm assessments revealed a
large variability between farms regarding animal health related factors (Dietze et al. 2007, Früh
et al. 2011). Hence, animal health management is characterised by uncertainty about the outcome of
health relevant measures, complicating the decision processes. To identify the most effective
measures in the farm specific situation is therefore a crucial challenge.
In this study an impact matrix was used as a diagnostic procedure to identify those factors on the
farm level, which appear sensible with respect to health improvements.
Material and methodology
The study was carried out on 10 organic farms with fattening pigs in Germany. The flock size varied
between 200 and 840 fattening places per farm. Two farms had a piglet production in addition
to the fattening pigs. All pigs descended from comparable genotypes and were slaughtered at the
same abattoir.
Grasping animal health as the outcome of the whole farm system, an impact matrix was implemented
as a diagnostic tool to identify effective factors related to animal health in the farm specific situation.
A first model of an impact matrix was developed by Vester & Hesler (1980) and integrated in
the ‘Sensitivity Model Prof. Vester ® ’, a software-based planning and management tool for complex
situations, which was used in the current study.