89 research outputs found
Rearing calves with nurse cows: experiences of French organic dairy farmers
Improving animal welfare on farms is currently a major issue, in response to expectations of citizens and
consumers. In organic farming, reflections are continuing on how to change livestock production practices to
allow animals to express their natural behaviour most fully. Calf rearing in dairy systems is a focus of
attention. At the moment, separating calves from their mothers remains the most common practice, but new
techniques that favour the maternal bond are appearing. Understanding these practices better to identify
conditions under which they can be adopted by more farmers was the goal of a survey conducted in spring
2018 of organic dairy farmers who rear calves with adult cows. This work has been made under the
GrazyDaiSy project, funded by the European Union program Core organic
ConïŹer des veaux Ă des nourrices : expĂ©riences des Ă©leveurs laitiers biologiques
AmĂ©liorer le bien-ĂȘtre des animaux en Ă©levage constitue actuellement un enjeu majeur, en rĂ©ponse aux attentes des citoyens et consommateurs. En agriculture biologique, des rĂ©ïŹexions sont en cours pour faire Ă©voluer les pratiques dâĂ©levage et ainsi permettre aux animaux dâexprimer au mieux leur comportement naturel. LâĂ©levage des veaux en systĂšme laitier constitue un des points dâattention. En eïŹet, pour lâheure, la sĂ©paration des veaux avec les mĂšres reste la pratique la plus courante mais de nouvelles conduites dâĂ©levage, qui privilĂ©gient le lien maternel, apparaissent. Mieux connaĂźtre ces pratiques, pour identiïŹer les conditions auxquelles elles peuvent ĂȘtre adoptĂ©es par un nombre plus important dâĂ©leveurs, a constituĂ© le but dâune enquĂȘte menĂ©e au printemps 2018 auprĂšs dâĂ©leveurs bios qui Ă©lĂšvent les veaux avec des vaches adultes
Rearing calves with nurse cows: experiences of French organic dairy farmers
Improving animal welfare on farms is currently a major issue, in response to expectaons of cizens and consumers. In organic farming, reïŹecons are connuing on how to change livestock producon pracces to allow animals to express their natural behaviour most fully. Calf rearing in dairy systems is a focus of aenon. At the moment, separang calves from their mothers remains the most common pracce, but new techniques that favour the maternal bond are appearing. Understanding these pracces beer to idenfy condions under which they can be adopted by more farmers was the goal of a survey conducted in spring 2018 of organic dairy farmers who rear calves with adult cows. This work has been made under the GrazyDaiSy project, funded by the European Union program Core organic
Agriculture et qualitĂ© de lâeau : le dispositif de Lons-le-Saunier Evolution des jeux dâacteurs
La protection de lâeau est devenue un enjeu majeur depuis le renforcement des obligations rĂ©glementaires qui imposent le bon Ă©tat des masses dâeau dâici 2015. Les gestionnaires de lâeau sont alors contraints de mettre en place des actions prĂ©ventives, en intervenant sur les pratiques agricoles situĂ©es Ă proximitĂ© des captages dâeau potable. Or ces derniers manquent dâexpĂ©rience pour inciter le changement de ces pratiques sur un territoire.
Câest dans ce contexte que le programme de recherche Agriculture Biologique et PĂ©rimĂštre de Captage (ABiPeC), mobilise trois Ă©quipes de lâINRA et lâISARA sur les incitations locales Ă la conversion en agriculture biologique sur les aires dâalimentation de captage et quâune Ă©tude de six mois a Ă©tĂ© mise en place Ă lâINRA de Mirecourt sur le dispositif de protection de lâeau de Lons-le-Saunier, considĂ©rĂ© comme un exemple en la matiĂšre.
Cette Ă©tude reconstitue les Ă©tapes de construction du dispositif et analyse lâĂ©volution des relations mises en place entre les acteurs. Ce travail a Ă©tĂ© rĂ©alisĂ© par des enquĂȘtes auprĂšs de diffĂ©rentes catĂ©gories dâacteurs pour reconstituer les faits et identifier leurs points de vue via une analyse de discours.
Les propos recueillis ont permis de comprendre que lâĂ©volution du contexte rĂ©glementaire, politique et Ă©conomique ont rĂ©guliĂšrement conduit les acteurs Ă renĂ©gocier le dispositif.
Aujourdâhui des tensions entre la ville et les agriculteurs seraient expliquĂ©es par lâaugmentation du nombre dâacteurs impliquĂ©s, qui complexifie les jeux dâacteurs et par le dĂ©calage entre eux sur les nouvelles actions Ă conduire pour protĂ©ger lâeau, notamment pour lâagriculture biologique
LâĂ©levage des veaux laitiers par des vaches adultes. Recueil et analyse de lâexpĂ©rience des Ă©leveurs biologiques
Une Ă©tude originale sâintĂ©ressant uniquement aux pratiques des Ă©leveurs bios avec un nombre limitĂ© dâĂ©leveurs rencontrĂ©s mais une vision trĂšs partagĂ©e de la technique dâĂ©levage des veaux sous nourrices et de ses avantages. S'agit-il d'un effet de mode ou une transformation plus profonde en cours des conduites dâĂ©levage des jeunes en production laitiĂšre? Certains Ă©leveurs font preuve d'un recul insuffisant sur la pratique par exemple sur le parasitisme des jeunes ou sur la production laitiĂšre des futures vaches⊠Mais est-ce une innovation ou un retour Ă des pratiques anciennes? La technique est actuellement mobilisĂ©e dans des systĂšmes trĂšs herbagers, quelle diffusion dans dâautres systĂšmes dâĂ©levage
Agriculture et qualitĂ© de lâeau : le dispositif de Lons le Saunier. Evolution des jeux d'acteurs
Ce travail, Ă lâinitiative de chercheurs, a Ă©tĂ© rĂ©alisĂ© dans le cadre du projet : ABiPeC - Agriculture Biologique et PĂ©rimĂštres de Captage (programme AgriBio3 â INRA). Il vise Ă comparer diffĂ©rents types de dispositifs de protection de lâeau mobilisant lâagriculture biologique.
Notre Ă©tude a pour objectif de comprendre les jeux dâacteurs mis en place Ă Lons-le-Saunier pour prĂ©server la qualitĂ© de son eau potable. Par jeux dâacteurs, nous entendons : identifier les acteurs concernĂ©s par le projet, leur niveau de participation et les relations qui se sont construites entre eux
Soigner autrement ses animaux : la construction par les éleveurs de nouvelles approches thérapeutiques
Les approches alternatives en santĂ© animale sont devenues courantes dans les Ă©levages, bien que leur efficacitĂ© soit contestĂ©e par nombre de scientifiques et de vĂ©tĂ©rinaires. Suivant les principes de la sociologie pragmatique, les auteures ont formalisĂ© le processus par lequel les Ă©leveurs sâapproprient ces approches, en reconstituant les quatre scĂšnes au cours desquelles ils sây confrontent : la formation, lâessai en ferme, le travail en groupe dâĂ©leveurs, la consultation individuelle de spĂ©cialistes. Les usages que les Ă©leveurs font de ces approches alternatives relĂšvent alors de la figure de lâamateur : ils articulent diffĂ©rentes approches pour soigner leur troupeau, ce qui implique une coordination entre leurs propres interventions et celles des autres professionnels de santĂ©.Farmers get more and more interest in alternative approaches of animal health, whereas much scientists and veterinarians contest their effectiveness. Using a pragmatic theoretical framework, we focus on adoption process of these approaches by farmers. We conceptualize this process by alternation of four scenes corresponding to four different types of confrontation between farmers and these techniques: training courses, on farm tests, peers exchange groups and individual consultations. We show that breeders become âamateurâ of these alternative approaches: they combine different techniques for animal care, and so, they coordinate their own operations with those of animal health professionals
Lâoutil foncier, une solution dĂ©licate pour protĂ©ger les captages dâeau potable
« Lâoutil foncier » est actuellement une dĂ©marche largement publicisĂ©e par les organismes en charge de la protection de lâeau potable, mais il reste dans les faits peu utilisĂ©. Les auteures ont Ă©tudiĂ© deux cas, situĂ©s dans les Vosges, dans lesquels la nĂ©gociation de contrats environnementaux avec les agriculteurs sur un pĂ©rimĂštre de captage dâeau a Ă©tĂ© de pair avec une reprise partielle des terres agricoles par le gestionnaire. Leur analyse des processus de nĂ©gociation montre les limites de cette dĂ©marche : opportunitĂ©s trĂšs alĂ©atoires, construction juridique complexe et tensions engendrĂ©es du cĂŽtĂ© des agriculteurs. Plus largement, elle plaide pour une meilleure reprĂ©sentation de la diversitĂ© du monde agricole dans les instances de mĂ©diation pour inscrire lâĂ©cologisation de lâagriculture dans un projet de territoire.âThe land toolâ is today an initiative widely encouraged by the bodies in charge of the protection of the drinking water, but it remains in the facts little used. We were thus interested in two cases, located in the Vosges region (France), where the negotiation of environmental contracts with the farmers concerned by a water catchment area was coupled with a partial land purchase by the manager Our analysis, centered on the process of negotiation, highlights the difficulties and the limits of this kind of solutions related to the rarity of the offer, to its complex legal construction, and to the tensions that it engendered within the farmersâ groups. More widely, it suggests a wider representation of the agricultural world diversity in the mediation bodies, in order to integrate ecologization of agriculture in a territorial project
Calves with their dams in dairy cow systems
Conclusions and future perspectives:
Interviews and on-farm studies across The Netherlands, France, Norway and Denmark showed that dam-rearing is practiced in a wealth of different systems, and four main angles should be considered when organizing a dam-calf contact system to fit the context and work well: calf, cow, farmers and farming system.
Dam-calf contact systems can be seen as contributing significantly to the physiology and natural behavior of calves as well as of mother cows. Three important qualities in dam-calf contact systems were described from animalsâ perspective: 1) nutrition, 2) care, and 3) learning. The priorities and perceptions of the importance of these three qualities influenced very much the farmersâ choices and priorities of systems. A focus on nutrition could for example motivate the choice of part time systems and strongly restricted systems (e.g. two times two hours daily access to each other), whereas a focus on care and learning would motivate a more full-time access system.
Some perceived the calves to be equipped with capacities and skills through learning from the dam and others in the system, adding to their life opportunities, and they would favor a system where mother cow and calf were together with as little restriction as possible, although such systems require major efforts to organize and keep the overview.
Farmers, who were introduced to dam-calf contact systems, but without having prior experience of these systems, pointed to the need for developing systems, which were much more âfriendlyâ to both cows and calves than what they saw. That is, develop dairy systems, which allowed cows and calves to be together, and the calves to learn about life in a dairy herd (e.g. indoor and outdoor life, and eating solid feed and grass), and with minimum risk.
Among some interviewed actors, the needs of the calf seemed to be more in focus and of higher priority than the natural needs and the motivation of the mother cow. This is clear when talking about foster cow systems (where the mother cow is separated early after calving from her calf), but also when talking about dam-calf contact systems, many seemed to focus most on the benefits of the calf, although many noticed that the mother cow often reacted strongly to the separation and showed much distress.
Seen from the farmersâ points of view, it was remarkable that most farmers, who had dam-calf contact systems, were mainly driven by the pleasure of seeing it work, and seeing the interaction between calves and cows. They articulated how they were touched and impressed e.g. by the mother cowâs consistent âwatching overâ her calf, and the pain of separation. A number of the farmers had never been motivated by premium price or consumer demands, but just did it because they found it right, or âeasierâ in combination that it brought them other qualities being farmers.
Farmers, who were confronted with dam rearing systems for the first time in their lives, pointed to the necessity of finding a balance between âtrusting the animalsâ (because they could clearly see that the calves found their way), and âbeing in controlâ, because they used to know exactly how much milk the calves were drinking on daily basis. This points to the need for the humans in the system to redirect efforts and focus when observing animals, and when spending their time with cows and calves.
There was a repeated questioning of ânaturalnessâ in relation to dam-rearing. Whilst acknowledging that mother cows and calves were strongly motivated and it was ânaturalâ for them to be together, some farmers also pointed to factors which partly made it âunnaturalâ for them. This was especially the very high milk yields of dairy cows, which could lead to overdrinking for the calf, or deep udders, which made it difficult to drink for the calf, or the fact that daily life in a large dairy herd might not give a newborn calf sufficient peace to rest.
Some issues remained unsolved at the current moment, and they need future solutions. One is the difference in many herds between âcalves to stay in the herdâ versus âcalves to leave the herdsâ and not least their mothers, which had to go through early and abrupt separation.
Another aspect is whether it is best to aim at farming systems in which the calf can find its mother, or the mother find her calf, or how they both have more or less unrestricted access to each other, but then with no opportunity to seek peace in a calf hide
Nurse Cows For Young Calves: Analysis Of A Bottom-Up Innovation In Organic Dairy Farming
Technical groups of dairy farmers have developed autonomous and economical farming systems using bottom-up innovation processes. Nurse cow rearing, a new way to rear young calves, was designed within such groups. The aim of our research was to analyse how organic dairy farms implement these rearing systems. We conducted qualitative interviews with farmers to explore relations between rearing practices, farmersâ objectives and farm characteristics. Our results indicate that this innovation is based on a few elements: (1) it is inseparable from a global rearing system based on pasture, (2) it fits with farmersâ production and economic goals and (3) it can be adapted to each farm
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