Produktionskrankheiten in der ökologischen Milchviehhaltung und die Notwendigkeit von Zielformulierungen

Summary

Organic farming is based on the four principles health, ecology, fairness and care, and is governed by EU regulation 834/2007. The question leading to this research was
whether these provisions are sufficient to ensure good animal health. Prevalences of production diseases in 192 organic dairy farms in France, Germany, Spain and
Sweden were assessed based on routinely collected herd data and locomotion scoring. Herd-level indicators were determined for udder health, metabolism, reproduction and lameness. The median (min - max) prevalence of subclinical mastitis was 51.3% (18.9 - 94.2) and 14.2% (0 - 79.2) of the animals were lame. Prevalence of subclinical ketosis was 10% (0 - 45) and 42% (4.3 - 90.5) of the animals had a
prolonged calving interval. Mean values and distributions showed that the organic principles and regulations do not lead to consistently low levels of production diseases. Thus, there is a gap between the organic principle of health and the health performance of organic farms. The formulation of a common objective and continuous monitoring of the degree to which health targets are achieved may be a means to reduce the gap and to sustainably improve animal health.