Britt I. F. Henriksen

Animal health and welfare planning in organic dairy cattle farms

Continuous development is needed within the farm to reach the goal of good animal health and welfare in organic livestock farming. The very different conditions between countries call for models that are relevant for different farming types and can be integrated into local practice and be relevant for each type of farming context. This article reviews frameworks, principles and practices for animal health and welfare planning which are relevant for organic livestock farming. This review is based on preliminary analyses carried out within a European project (acronym ANIPLAN) with participants from seven countries. The process begins with gathering knowledge about the current status within a given herd as background for making decisions and planning future improvements as well as evaluating already implemented improvements. Respectful communication between the owner of the herd and other farmers as well as animal health and welfare professionals (veterinarians and advisors) is paramount. This paper provides an overview of some current animal health and welfare planning initiatives and explains the principles of animal health and welfare planning which are being implemented in ANIPLAN partner countries, in collaboration with groups of organic farmers and organisations.

Effects of health and welfare planning on the use of antibiotics and udder health in European dairy farms

To improve the sustainability of dairy production it is essential to establish practices that reduce medicine use whilst safeguarding or improving herd health and productivity. Aiming at minimising medicine use through animal health and welfare planning (AHWP), 111 farms in 6 countries were monitored as part of the wider Core Organic ANIPLAN project. For this purpose, the number of udder treatments with antibiotics was recorded. Somatic cell score (SCS) served as an indicator of udder health, and milk yield and average lactation number were calculated at the farm level from milk recording data. Treatment and milk recording data were collected for a one year period before and after a first farm visit. AHWP was carried out either in stable schools or using one-to-one-advice. General linear models for repeated measures revealed a decrease in udder treatments with antibiotics over all farms (P=0.004). SCS improved significantly over all farms (P=0.025), whilst milk yield and average lactation number remained unchanged (P>0.05). Choosing ‘udder health’ as AHWP focus area (58% of the farmers) did not further improve the parameters investigated. The implementation of an AHWP process can be regarded as a feasible approach to improve udder health and minimise medicine use without impairment of productivity.