Gidi Smolders

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.

Farmers taking responsibility for herd health development—stable schools in research and advisory activities as a tool for dairy health and welfare planning in Europe

Achieving and maintaining a high herd health and welfare status is an important aim in organic livestock farming. The varying farming systems across and within countries call for models that are relevant for different farming types and that can be integrated into local practice. In stable schools, farmers take responsibility for health and welfare planning by identifying issues, setting goals, and acting to improve the health situation based on farm-specific data, e.g. milk production. This paper reviews the results from intervention studies that used a modified ‘farmer field school’ approach for animal health and welfare planning, providing an overview of ongoing activities and their implementation into advisory situations in selected European countries. Studies on stable schools as an intervention tool showed improvements regarding the specific project aim on the majority of the participating farms. Farmers and facilitators were convinced of the approach and benefits for dairy herds. Farmers’ attitude and attention towards their herds and their ownership of the process appear to be crucial success factors for herd health and welfare situations. In some European countries, this method has been implemented in advisory practice, and in other regions, there are relevant and promising opportunities.

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.