Interdisziplinär betrachtet: Gesundheit- und Leistungsfähigkeit von Milchkühen im Ökologischen Landbau

Summary

Mastitis, metabolic disorders and lameness are still the most important diseases in
German organic dairy herds and cause enormous financial losses as well as pain in
the animals suffering from these diseases. This project focuses on the development of
prevention-oriented health management strategies in organic dairy farms and aims to
validate this approach through an interdisciplinary on-farm intervention study. In total
14 institutions are involved. To assess the risk of metabolic disorders and mastitis a
national field survey of 100 organic dairy farms is used considering the system of
production from the plant populations of the grassland, the quality of feedstuff to housing
conditions and milk quality to name but a few examples of the data recorded
during farm visits. The study relies on a small team of scientists and consultants and is
complemented by investigations carried out on experimental stations. These experiments
deal with the improvement of grassland, feed intake, and the relation between
metabolic disorders and udder infections.