Vergleich von zwei Rinderrassen hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung zur Ökologischen Milchproduktion – Teilfrage: Tiergesundheit

Summary

According to the rules of organic farming, prophylaxis shall be supported by selection
of appropriate breeds. Nevertheless, today high yielding breeds predominate in organic
dairy herds. Since 2004 the Institute of Organic Farming in Trenthorst compares
two breeds under the same management conditions on its experimental farm. The
evaluation of the data gained between March 2006 and March 2008 revealed a higher
treatment rate in the milk orientated Holstein-Friesian cows compared to the German
Red Pied, a local dual purpose breed. Although treatment of claw disorders were
much more frequent in Holstein-Friesian cows, the lameness scoring carried out every
fortnight did not show any difference between the two breeds (Chi2
3=3.506, n. s.). In
24 of 134 cases, cows needed support during calving but the frequency did not differ
between the groups (Chi2
2=0.125, n. s.). Due to the low cell frequency the reasons for
culling could not be evaluated, yet. Even if a comparison of breeds has to take into
account the genotype-environment-interactions, these first results show no clear
advantage of an assumed robust breed under the conditions of our organic farm.