Indikatorengestützte „Stable Schools“ als Managementtool zur Verbesserung der Tiergesundheit in der ökologischen Milch-viehhaltung in Deutschland - Umsetzung von Maßnahmen sowie Einschätzung durch die BetriebsleiterInnen

Summary

The Stable School concept aims at common learning in farmer groups and has previously been implemented in Danish organic dairy farms. Focusing on herd health, four regional Stable Schools on in total 20 German organic dairy farms were initiated following a modified approach; i.e. additionally providing data on the health status of the farms based on a standardized protocol. After one year we investigated the farmers’ opinions of this modified concept and assessed the implementation of measures. The participants expressed a positive attitude toward this tool; they appreciated the joint search for effective and feasible measures and evaluated the self-determined approach in the Stable School as highly motivating. Accordingly, the compliance regarding implementation was high (about 2/3 of all recommended measures implemented). Since Stable Schools seem to strengthen the motivation of the participants to implement measures, and may be a promising tool to improve animal health.