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

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

Vergleich von zwei Rinderrassen hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung zur Ökologischen Milchproduktion – Teilfrage: Tiergesundheit

According to the rules of organic farming, prophylaxis shall be supported by selection of appropriate breeds. Nevertheless, today high yielding breeds predominate in organic dairy herds. Since 2004 the Institute of Organic Farming in Trenthorst compares two breeds under the same management conditions on its experimental farm. The evaluation of the data gained between March 2006 and March 2008 revealed a higher treatment rate in the milk orientated Holstein-Friesian cows compared to the German Red Pied, a local dual purpose breed. Although treatment of claw disorders were much more frequent in Holstein-Friesian cows, the lameness scoring carried out every fortnight did not show any difference between the two breeds (Chi2 3=3.506, n. s.). In 24 of 134 cases, cows needed support during calving but the frequency did not differ between the groups (Chi2 2=0.125, n. s.). Due to the low cell frequency the reasons for culling could not be evaluated, yet. Even if a comparison of breeds has to take into account the genotype-environment-interactions, these first results show no clear advantage of an assumed robust breed under the conditions of our organic farm

Auswirkungen der muttergebundenen Kälberaufzucht auf das Melkverhalten der Kühe

The introduction of mother-bonded calf rearing into organic dairy farming faces some problems. Regarding the cow, the disturbed milk ejection seems to be the most important one. We compared two groups of cows, which had permanent (Kp, n=11) or temporarily (Kt,n=13) contact to their calves until the 90th day p.p. with cows separated from their offspring within 24 h after calving (Ko, n=24). Since suckling following the machine milking strongly influences milk ejection, the Kt-cows were allowed to meet their calves 15 minutes before the usual milking times (milking interval 10:14 hours) in a separated area. Milk flow curves were recorded at the 6th day after calving and afterwards every fortnight at least until the 90th day of lactation. At the same time bucket milk samples of each cow were collected. Results showed clear differences between the groups with and without calf contact. In these groups, the milk yield gained by machine milking was much lower (up to 10 kg per milking, p<0.001) and contained less fat (- 1%, p<0.001). The frequency of bimodal flow curves did not differ between the groups due to the loss of the cisternal milk in the Kt and Kp-group. Mean milk flow was reduced in the suckled cows and decreased significantly in the investigated period from 1.4 to 0.6 and from 1.1 to 0.8 kg min-1 (F2,463=27.36, p<0.0001) for the Kp and Kt-group, respectively. Thus, suckling prior to machine milking does not avoid disturbed milk ejections in suckled cows. Further investigations should focus on splitting machine milking and suckling to solve this problem

Dry cow therapy in an organic dairy herd of a milk and a dual purpose breed

According to the EU-Regulation for organic farming breeds chosen for the organic production should have the capacity to adapt to the local conditions to reduce the risk of diseases. The study compared the udder health status and the necessity of application of dry cow therapy (DCT) on cows of a dual purpose and a milk breed (Red and White Holsteins vs. Holstein-Friesian) kept under the same management conditions. Data records of one and a half year and 49 cows were analysed. 132 of 203 udder quarters were treated with an antibiotic at drying off. The treated quarters had significant higher readings for electrical conductivity, California Mastitis Test and the somatic cell count during lactation than the untreated group. Red and White Holstein cows received significantly more often a DCT than Holstein-Friesian cows. Thus, the results of our study do not support the presumption that older breeds are more robust against diseases and therefore fit better into organic dairy farming. Discussions about this topic should consider that the term “local condition” includes not only the climate but also the management conditions of the organic dairy farm