Eutergesundheit in der ökologischen Milchviehhaltung – Einfluss von Laktatonsstadium und Laktationszahl auf die Behandlungsinzidenz klinischer Masttiden

Summary

Mastitis is one of the most important diseases in organic dairy farming. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to investigate the influence of stage of lactation and parity on mastitis risk in organic dairy cows. 43 German organic farms with German Holstein cows were selected via a questionnaire. These farms are being visited approximately every three months since 2005. Minimum herd size is 30 cows, and annual milk yield averages 6,277 kg/cow (min=3,175; max=9,653). During the farm visits, mastitis cases and treatments were extracted from farm records and data were processed using InterHerd©. The mean mastitis (treatment) incidence was 22 cases/100 cow years, which is comparable to incidences in organic farms reported elsewhere. 19 mastitis cases/100 cow years found in the dry-off-period was even lower than the incidence in other investigations on organic dairy farms. The highest incidence rate was found 0-7 days p.p. (mean=147 cases/100 cow years), and risk of mastitis increased with parity. Allopathic treatments were rather common in the farms surveyed (85% of treatments), indicating discrepancies in the implementation of organic farming objectives.