title: Investigations on dairy welfare and performance on German organic farms
creator: Hoerning, Bernhard
creator: Simantke, Christel
creator: Aubel, Erhard
subject:  Production systems
description: An investigation was carried out on 74 organic dairy farms in Germany. Results were an average milk production of 5.960 kg, 223.000 somatic cell counts (SCC), 387 days calving interval, 23.5 % culling rate, 46 Euro annual veterinary costs per cow. Farmers were asked for disease incidences. Cows were scored for injuries and body condition. The results were combined with possible influencing factors (herd size, breed, region, farming association, housing system, housing factors, amounts of concentrates). The most frequent health problems were udder, fertility, and claw disorders. These subjective estimations of disease incidences by the farmers could be validated with herd recording data (SCC, calving interval, culling reasons). Overall rate of injuries was low. Body condition scoring revealed only few problems. Holstein-Friesians showed the highest milk production, but also more health problems and a higher culling rate. The straw yard systems seem to have advantages with regard to lameness, fertility, and injuries, but a higher risk for mastitis. 
date: 2005
type: Conference paper, poster, etc. 
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: http://orgprints.org/4371/1/4371-Hoerning_etal_4p_revised-ed.pdf
identifier: Hoerning, Bernhard; Simantke, Christel and Aubel, Erhard (2005) Investigations on dairy welfare and performance on German organic farms. Researching Sustainable Systems - International Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture, Adelaide, Australia, September 21-23, 2005. [ Unpublished, ]
relation: http://orgprints.org/4371/