pro-Q: Auswirkungen eines Bestandesbetreuungsprojektes auf Eutergesundheit, Antibiotikaeinsatz, Nutzungsdauer und Milchleistung

Summary

Since 2003, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) is realizing a herd
health management programme (“pro-Q” project) focussing on udder health and the
use of homeopathic based treatment and prevention. Aims of the project are: (1) to
reduce antibiotic mastitis treatments, (2) to optimize udder health and (3) to improve
longevity, measured as averaged herd lactation number. The farms get expert advice
on prevention and treatment at herd- and animal-level. After 2 years, treatment recordings
of the 78 investigated farms showed that antibiotic mastitis therapies were
reduced from 37 to 26 treatments per 100 cows and year (equals a reduction of 28%).
The mean herd lactation number increased significantly by 0.2 lactations from 3.3 to
3.5 lactations per cow. Udder health remained constant over all farms during 2 years:
theoretical bulk milk cell counts averaged constantly at approximately 180'000
cells/ml.