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

Abstract

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