Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

More documents

Recommendations

Info

! 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 148 Interdisciplinary intervention in German organic dairy farms – results on mastitis and metabolic disorders SOLVEIG MARCH 1 , JAN BRINKMANN 1 , KERSTIN BARTH 1 , CHRISTOPH DRERUP 2 , JOHANNES IS- SELSTEIN 2 , DORIS KLOCKE 2 , VOLKER KRÖMKER 2 , FERDINAND MERSCH 2 , JÜRGEN MÜLLER 2 , PETRA RAUCH 2 , ULRICH SCHUMACHER 2 , HUBERT SPIEKERS 2 , ARNE TICHTER 2 , OTTO VOLLING 2 , MARTIN WEILER 2 , MARTIN WEIß 2 , CHRISTOPH WINCKLER 2 Abstract 1 Thuenen-Institute of Organic Farming, Germany, www.oel-vti.de, eMail: solveig.march@vti.bund.de 2 The contact details of the co-authors are available on request from the first author A nationwide interdisciplinary intervention study in 106 German organic dairy farms was carried out in order to develop preventive animal health management strategies for mastitis and metabolic disorders and to implement and validate this concept. After an initial farm visit focusing on the health situation and the potential risk factors including housing, herd management, feeding and forage production, individual evidence-based advice was provided by the project team. Intervention measures to improve herd health were implemented and their effectiveness was monitored for two years. Udder health regarding milk somatic cell count and treatment incidence for mastitis improved significantly, whereas the percentage of dry-off-treatments with antibiotics and internal teat-sealers increased significantly. Considering indicators of metabolic health, there was an improvement in treatment incidence of milk fever and ketosis, but the percentage of cows with a fatprotein-ratio above 1.5 in the first 100 days in milk -as indication of subclinical ketosis- did not change. Key words: organic dairy farming, animal health, intervention study, interdisciplinary approach, knowledge transfer Introduction Mastitis is one of the most prevalent health problems in organic dairy farming (e.g. Weller & Bowling, 2000) and metabolic disorders play as well a considerable role (Brinkmann et al. 2005). High milk yields pose a challenge in organic dairy farming, resulting from the conflict between the preferential use of in-house feedstuff and the restrictions on the choice of feedstuffs in organic farming and the ration requirements of the high producing animals (Sundrum & Schumacher, 2004). Improving health in dairy production should rely on preventive herd health management. Accordingly the present project pursued an interdisciplinary approach considering the whole production system, including e.g. grassland and ley farming, feed rationing, housing conditions and their relationship to the metabolic and udder health situation on the farms. It was the aim of this study to analyze the effectiveness of farm-individual evidence-based intervention measures to improve herd health within a one to two year period after advice had been provided. Material and methodology The intervention study was carried out between 2007 and 2010 in 106 German organic dairy farms (average herd size 57 ± 36 cows, range 18-252). All farms complied with a range of criteria (main breed Holstein Friesian, Simmental or Brown Swiss, free-stall housing, milk recording scheme data) and were located in different regions in Germany. In an initial farm visit the health situation (e.g. lameness, body condition, treatment records, and milk constituents) and a range of potential risk
RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry. Proceedings of the 2 nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012 factors including housing conditions, herd management, feeding and forage production was assessed. Based on this initial assessment, scientists from different disciplines estimated the individual risks of each participating farm, identified the potential for improvement and developed recommendations. These suggestions regarding udder health and metabolic status as well as feeding and grassland management were fed back in the following farm visit(s) within one year and the effectiveness of this prevention-orientated herd health management was assessed using key figures of metabolic and udder health (Table 1). In total four farm visits were conducted until Winter 2009/10. Incidences of treatments were obtained from farm records for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively as number of cases per cow and year. Repeated application of drugs connected to the same diagnosis with a maximum lag of seven days between treatments was counted as one event. The average for 2007 and 2008 was used as baseline health indicators. The implementation of recommendations was conducted at the 2nd visit at the end of 2008 and the developing of herd health was monitored for one (treatment incidences) respectively two years (milk recordings) afterwards. Mixed models for repeated measures were used to analyze the effect of time after intervention at farm level. Results Topics and implementation of measures In total 1.268 farm-individual recommendations were worked out and most of these advices dealt with udder and metabolic health (494/456); further 180 recommendations were given with regard to grassland management, 63 to forage harvesting and forage conservation. To evaluate compliance, we assessed the degree of implementation on the farms at the 4th farm visit. About 57 % (702 measures) had been implemented (completely or partly; 39 times information on implementation was missing and about 40 % of the suggestions were assessed as not having been implemented yet). Compliance of the farmers was > 60% regarding the given recommendations to improve udder and metabolic health. Development of herd health parameters Whilst the average milk yield and herd size increased significantly (19.8 -> 20.9 kg per cow and day; 56.8 -> 60.4 cows/herd), mean herd age did not change over the project period (5.4 years). Milk somatic cell score (SCS) improved significantly from 2007/08 to 2010 and treatment incidence for mastitis decreased significantly from 2007/08 to 2009. At the same time the percentage of animals with antibiotic dry-off-treatments and internal teat-sealers increased significantly. Considering indicators of metabolic health, there was an improvement in treatment incidence of milk fever and ketosis, but the percentage of cows with a fat-protein-ratio ≥ 1.5 in the first 100 days in milk (DIM) - as an indication of imbalance energy supply - did not change (see Table 1). The fat-proteinratio (FPR) in these early lactating cows was unchanged as well (mean: 1.28). Discussion In this study, levels of SCS and SCC were similar to values reported in other European studies (Gay et al. 2007, March et al. 2011). The initial incidence of allopathic treatments of mastitis was 17 % which is similar to the treatment incidence in 149 Norwegian organic dairy farms (Valle et al. 2007). However, other studies found higher incidences (Weller & Bowling 2000, March et al. 2011), partly including antimicrobial dry-off-treatments (Bennedsgaard et al. 2010, Ivemeyer et al. 2012). The occurrence of hypocalcaemia in organic farms ranges between 7 % (Ivemeyer et al. 2012, Hardeng & Edge 2001) and 12 % (Bennedsgaard et al. 2010). The former is similar with the initial situation 2007/08 in the 106 German farms in our present study and also with treatment rates stated in other studies in organic dairy herds (Brinkmann & March, 2010). In the present study there was an improvement with respect to antibiotic treatments of mastitis due to the farm-individual in- 149
Page 1 and 2:
Sonderheft 362 Special Issue Tackli
Page 3:
Landbauforschung vTI Agriculture an
Page 7 and 8:
Foreword Organic animal husbandry s
Page 9 and 10:
RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012):
Page 11 and 12:
Content RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
References RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Abstract RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Discussion RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Factors Plant Height (cm) RAHMANN G
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104: RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012):
Page 105 and 106: Discussion RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
Page 109 and 110: Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
Page 113 and 114: Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
Page 123 and 124: Abstract RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.
Page 129 and 130: Discussion RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
Page 153: RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012):
Page 173 and 174: References RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Results RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
FEC adjusted for dry matter 12000 1
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Conclusions RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
Page 273 and 274:
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277 and 278:
Page 279 and 280:
Page 281 and 282:
Page 283 and 284:
Page 285 and 286:
Page 287 and 288:
Page 289 and 290:
Page 291 and 292:
Page 293 and 294:
Page 295 and 296:
Page 297 and 298:
Page 299 and 300:
Page 301 and 302:
Page 303 and 304:
Page 305 and 306:
Page 307 and 308:
Page 309 and 310:
Page 311 and 312:
Page 313 and 314:
Page 315 and 316:
Page 317 and 318:
Page 319 and 320:
Page 321 and 322:
Page 323 and 324:
Page 325 and 326:
Page 327 and 328:
Page 329 and 330:
Page 331 and 332:
Page 333 and 334:
Page 335 and 336:
Page 337 and 338:
Page 339 and 340:
Page 341 and 342:
Page 343 and 344:
Page 345 and 346:
Page 347 and 348:
Page 349 and 350:
Page 351 and 352:
Page 353 and 354:
Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
Page 355 and 356:
349 Table 1. Breeding information o
Page 357 and 358:
Page 359 and 360:
Page 361 and 362:
Page 363 and 364:
Page 365 and 366:
Page 367 and 368:
Page 369 and 370:
Page 371 and 372:
Page 373 and 374:
Page 375 and 376:
Page 377 and 378:
Page 379 and 380:
Page 381 and 382:
Page 383 and 384:
Page 385 and 386:
Page 387 and 388:
Page 389 and 390:
Page 391 and 392:
Page 393 and 394:
Page 395 and 396:
Page 397 and 398:
Page 399 and 400:
Page 401 and 402:
Page 403 and 404:
Page 405 and 406:
Page 407 and 408:
Page 409 and 410:
Page 411 and 412:
Page 413 and 414:
Page 415 and 416:
Page 417 and 418:
Page 419 and 420:
Page 421 and 422:
Page 423 and 424:
Page 425 and 426:
Page 427 and 428:
Page 429 and 430:
Page 431 and 432:
Page 433 and 434:
Page 435 and 436:
Page 437 and 438:
Page 439 and 440:
Page 441 and 442:
Page 443 and 444:
Page 445 and 446:
Kg liveweight (mean) RAHMANN G & GO
Page 447 and 448:
Page 449 and 450:
Page 451 and 452:
Page 453 and 454:
Page 455 and 456:
Page 457 and 458:
Page 459 and 460:
Page 461 and 462:
Page 463 and 464:
Page 465 and 466:
Page 467 and 468:
Page 469 and 470:
Page 471 and 472:
Page 473 and 474:
Page 475 and 476:
Page 477 and 478:
Page 479 and 480:
Page 481 and 482:
Page 483 and 484:
Page 485 and 486:
Page 487 and 488:
Page 489:
348 Herwart Böhm (Hrsg.) (2011) Op
show all

Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?