creators_name: Ivemeyer, Silvia
creators_name: Walkenhorst, Michael
creators_name: Heil, Fritz
creators_name: Notz, Christophe
creators_name: Maeschli, Ariane
creators_name: Butler, Gillian
creators_name: Klocke, Peter
creators_id: silvia.ivemeyer@fibl.org
type: journalp
datestamp: 2009-10-05 15:41:05
lastmod: 2009-10-05 15:42:21
metadata_visibility: show
title: Management factors affecting udder health and effects of a one year extension program in organic dairy herds
ispublished: pub
subjects: 1dairy
subjects: 3animal
subjects: 7animalhealth
full_text_status: restricted
keywords: management, udder health, mastitis, extension, dairy cow
abstract: The first part of this study was a cross-sectional analysis of the impact of 29 management factors on udder health in organic dairy farms in Switzerland. All 77 farms joined the extension program ‘pro-Q’. As a measure of udder health the theoretical bulk milk somatic cell count (TBMSCC)calculated by the monthly cow composite somatic cell count over a time period of 1 year was chosen. The basic udder health of the farms was determined by TBMSCC during the year prior to the start of the project (mean for all farms 176,460 cells/ml). In the multivariable analysis, the five factors ‘swiss brown breed’, ‘alpine summer pasturing’, ‘calf feeding with milk from mastitis diseased cows’, ‘hard bedding’ and ‘no post-milking’ remained as significant risk factors on udder health. 
In the second part of the study, the development of management factors and the udder health situation affected by an extension program after 1 year was investigated. A partial improvement of the management factors on the farms but no overall improvement on udder health and no  ssociation between management changes and udder health changes were found. Improvement of udder health was more likely in farms with higher basic TBMSCC than in those farms with less udder health problems at the beginning of the project.
date: 2009-09
date_type: published
publication: Animal
volume: 3
number: 11
publisher: Cambridge University Press
place_of_pub: Cambridge, UK
pages: 1594-1604
id_number: 10.1017/S1751731109990498
refereed: yes
citation: Ivemeyer, Silvia; Walkenhorst, Michael; Heil, Fritz; Notz, Christophe; Maeschli, Ariane; Butler, Gillian and Klocke, Peter (2009) Management factors affecting udder health and effects of a one year extension program in organic dairy herds. Animal, 3 (11).
document_url: http://orgprints.org/16375/1/ivemeyer_et_al_2009.pdf