Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

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
Organic producers’ preferences regarding traits important
in dairy production
THERESE AHLMAN 1 , ANNA WALLENBECK 1 , MAGNUS LJUNG 2
1 Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden,
www.slu.se/husdjursgenetik, e-mail: Therese.Ahlman@slu.se
Abstract
2 Administrative office, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Much effort has been put on the development and promotion of organic dairy products, but little
attention has been paid to the foundation of the production, i.e. the animal material. The process of
developing sustainable breeding strategies, in agreement with the goals for organic production,
should involve identification of traits especially important in organic production. The aim of this
study is to identify organic and conventional producers’ preferences regarding traits important in
dairy production. A web based questionnaire has been developed and answered by 468 dairy farmers
in Sweden (26 % organic producers). The results show that organic producers rank traits related
to resistance to diseases higher than conventional producers, while milk production, lactation
curve, temperament and claw and leg health were ranked higher by conventional farmers. This indicates
a need for breeding goals adjusted to satisfy farmers with different type of production.
Key words: breeding, animal material, farmers’ attitudes, cattle, disease resistance
Introduction
The animals used in organic production in Europe are generally the same as in conventional production.
They are traditionally bred for high profitability with main focus on production traits, a breeding
objective that is not in agreement with the goals for organic production. The need for a defined
breeding strategy in organic production has been emphasised during the last decades. It has been
suggested that the traits of interest differs between organic production and conventional production,
as well as the relative importance of breeding goal traits, due to differences in production environment
and farmers’ values (Verhoog et al. 2004).
This study is part of a research project which overall objective is to develop a sustainable and realistic
breeding strategy for organic dairy production in Sweden. The specific aim of this study is to
investigate and compare organic and conventional producers’ preferences regarding traits important
in their herds.
Material and methodology
All dairy farmers with e-mail addresses registered in the Swedish Dairy Association’s or the Swedish
organic certification organization KRAV’s databases were invited to answer an advanced web
based questionnaire about traits of importance for cattle in dairy production. This represented 1481
farmers, i.e. one fourth of all dairy producers in Sweden. The questionnaire developed consisted of
five steps:
1) The producers state which traits they intuitively consider important in their herd.
2) The producers rank 15 given traits (randomly presented) against each other. Rank 1 = most important,
rank = 15 least important (Table 1).
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