Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

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! 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 2010) and lessened the behavioural response (De Paula Vieira et al. 2010) that singly housed calves experienced after weaning, suggesting that the experienced distress due to weaning is less intense in socially housed calves. General conclusions on prolonged suckling and subsequent weaning methods During prolonged suckling, calves behaved like they were expected based on the behavioural patterns of (semi-)wild herds. They were observed in the presence of other calves as often as with cows, while cows were far more abundant, and were often found in calf groups, as well as cared for by their dam. Only one calf was observed to display abnormal behaviour before weaning, while cross-sucking commonly occurs in hand-reared dairy calves while they are still fed milk (Lidfors, 1993; Fröberg and Lidfors, 2009). All calves observed had a larger breast circumference than they were supposed to have according to optimal growth schemes used in artificial rearing (Sprayfo, 2012). Concluding that good biological functioning as well as a normal social development seemed to be facilitated by prolonged suckling. Gradual weaning as well as nose-flap weaning appeared to lessen the distress upon weaning and separation from the dam. However, in practice, the gradual weaning as it was applied on this farm is quite a burdensome alternative for the farmer, as the fence needs to be barred and opened up daily, and requires an additional pen to be present adjacent to the herd. Nose-flap weaning, on the other hand, seemed to diminish distress even more in this preliminary study, and is much easier to apply. The nose-flap itself is cheap, easily fitted into the calves’ muzzle and removed again after separation. This alternative will be further investigated. Tackling future challenges Organic livestock farmers try to ensure better animal welfare by taking animals’ natural behaviours and needs into account (IFOAM, 2010; von Borell and Sørensen, 2004). However, the rearing of dairy calves is a practice that is often in contrast to the philosophy of organic farming. Dairy calves are separated from their dam directly after birth or within three days after birth, after which they are bucket fed until weaning and housed in such a way that contact with animals of different age groups is little (LBI, 2011; Wagenaar and Langhout, 2007). This ‘artificial’ rearing contrasts with natural rearing in several aspects (von Keyserlingk and Weary, 2007). For example, while natural weaning in cattle occurs at the age of 6-14 months (Phillips, 1993 as cited in Flower and Weary, 2001; Reinhardt and Reinhardt, 1981 as cited in Enríquez, 2010), milk supply to dairy calves is often stopped at or before they are three months old. Despite the supposedly well-balanced feeding after weaning and the supposedly smaller risk of disease transmission, mortality amongst calves is high. A report by the Flemish government (2009) reports about 12% mortality from calves born alive until first calving; a recent UK survey reports mortality rates of 13-16% (Brickwell and Wathes, 2011). Calf welfare is likely to be reduced, as is reflected in both the reduced growth and high mortality (biological functioning) and the occurrence of abnormal cross-sucking behaviour (affective states). As an alternative for the conventional rearing practices , prolonged suckling should be integrated in dairy production systems. Animal welfare and animal health can be improved as prolonged suckling bears a closer resemblance to natural calf rearing than artificial calf rearing, as calves are raised in their natural social environment and dams can express their maternal behaviours. Dams can lick and nurse their calves, while calves can suckle their dam and socially learn adequate behaviour. According to the natural living approach, better welfare may therefore be expected for both calf and cow. Secondly, prolonged suckling appears to have positive effects on the health and physical development of the calf (biological functioning approach). Calves in a prolonged suckling treatment had 202
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 a lower disease incidence and mortality than artificially reared calves (Boonbrahm et al., 2004). Diarrhoea, a major cause of death in calves, was found to cause fewer problems in suckling systems than in artificial rearing (Wagenaar and Langhout, 2007). In addition, calves grow faster and mature well-balanced and naturally when they are allowed to suckle (Bar-Peled et al., 1997; Flower and Weary, 2001; Grøndahl et al., 2007; Metz, 1987; Roth et al., 2009) and cows that suckled as a calf have been reported to have a higher average weight gain until conception, an earlier age of conception and a tendency to have a higher milk production during their first lactation (Bar-Peled et al., 1997). Thirdly, artificial rearing induce negative affective states that can be averted by prolonged suckling (feelings approach). Separation from the mother has a serious impact on an individual’s development due to the lack of a mother-young bond that normally encompasses food and protection, social learning and exchange of affiliative behaviours (Newberry and Swanson, 2008; Mogi et al., 2011). Suckled calves have been reported to be more social than individually housed calves at 6 weeks of age (Flower and Weary, 2001) and later in live when being reintroduced in the herd, as well as higher up the hierarchy (le Neindre and Sourd, 1984) and showing more adequate maternal behaviour (le Neindre, 1989). In The Netherlands 30 farmers have successfully applied a prolonged suckling system with an average calf mortality of 7%. A third of these farmers also don’t use antibiotics at all. References Bach, A., Ahedo, J., Ferrer, A., 2010. Optimizing weaning strategies of dairy replacement calves. Journal of Dairy Science 93, 413–419. Bar-Peled, U., Robinzon, B., Maltz, E., Tagari, H., Folman, Y., Bruckental, I., Voet, H., Gacitua, H., Lehrer, A.R., 1997. Increased weight gain and effects on production parameters of Holstein heifer calves that were allowed to suckle from birth to six weeks of age. Journal of Dairy Science 80, 2523–2528. Boonbrahm, N., Peters, K., Intisang, W., 2004. The influence of calf rearing methods and milking methods on performance traits of crossbred dairy cattle in Thailand. 3. Calf performance. Archives Animal Breeding 47, 405–414. Chua, B., Coenen, E., van Delen, J., Weary, D.M., 2002. Effects of pair versus individual housing on the behavior and performance of dairy calves. Journal of Dairy Science 85, 360–364. De Paula Vieira, A., von Keyserlingk, M.A.G., Weary, D.M., 2010. Effects of pair versus single housing on performance and behavior of dairy calves before and after weaning from milk. Journal of Dairy Science 93, 3079–3085. Enríquez, D.H., Ungerfeld, R., Quintans, G., Guidoni, A.L., Hötzel, M.J., 2010. The effects of alternative weaning methods on behaviour in beef calves. Livestock Science 128, 20–27. Flower, F.C., Weary, D..M., 2001. Effects of early separation on the dairy cow and calf. II: Separation at 1 day and 2 weeks after birth. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 70: 275–284 Fröberg, S., Lidfors, L., 2009. Behaviour of dairy calves suckling the dam in a barn with automatic milking or being fed milk substitute from an automatic feeder in a group pen. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 117, 150–158. Grøndahl, A.M., Skancke, E.M., Mejdell, C.M., Jansen, J.H., 2007. Growth rate, health and welfare in a dairy herd with natural suckling until 6–8 weeks of age: a case report. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 49:16. Haley, D.B., Bailey, D.W., Stookey, J.M., 2005. The effects of weaning beef calves in two stages on their behavior and growth rate. Journal of Animal Science 83, 2205–2214. Heinrichs, A.J., Rogers, G.W., Cooper, J.B., 1992. Predicting body weight and wither height in Holstein heifers using body measurements. Journal of Dairy Science 75, 3576–3581. Hernández, C., Orihuela, A., Fröberg, S., Lidfors, L.M., 2006. Effect of restricted suckling on physiological and behavioural stress parameters in dual-purpose cattle in the tropics. Livestock Science 99, 21–27. 203
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Sonderheft 362 Special Issue Tackli
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Landbauforschung vTI Agriculture an
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Foreword Organic animal husbandry s
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Content RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
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Introduction RAHMANN G & GODINHO D
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Abstract RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.
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Discussion RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (E
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Factors Plant Height (cm) RAHMANN G
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349 Table 1. Breeding information o
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Results RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.)
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348 Herwart Böhm (Hrsg.) (2011) Op
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