Farmer groups for animal health and welfare planning in European organic dairy hers

A set of common principles for active animal health and welfare planning in organic dairy farming has been developed in the ANIPLAN project group of seven European countries. Health and welfare planning is a farmer‐owned process of continuous development and improvement and may be practised in many different ways. It should incorporate health promotion and disease handling, based on a strategy where assessment of current status and risks forms the basis for evaluation, action and review. Besides this, it should be 1) farmspecific, 2) involve external person(s) and 3) external knowledge, 4) be based on organic principles, 5) be written, and 6) acknowledge good aspects in addition to targeting the problem areas in order to stimulate the learning process

Minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds through animal health and welfare planning

Livestock is important in many organic farming systems, and it is an explicit goal to ensure high levels of animal health and welfare (AHW) through good management. This will lead to reduced medicine use and better quality of animal products. In two EU network projects NAHWOA & SAFO it was concluded that this is not guaranteed merely by following organic standards. Both networks recommended implementation of individual animal health plans to stimulate organic farmers to improve AHW. These plans should include a systematic evaluation of AHW and be implemented through dialogue with each farmer in order to identify goals and plan improvements. 15 research institutions in 8 European countries are involved in the proposed project with the main objective to minimise medicine use in organic dairy herds through active and well planned AHW promotion and disease prevention. The project consists of 5 work packages, 4 of which comprise research activities building on current research projects, new applications across borders, exchange of knowledge, results and conclusions between participating countries, and adopting them to widely different contexts. International and national workshops facilitate this exchange. Focus areas are animal health planning, AHW assessment using animal based parameters and development of advisory systems and farmer groups. Epidemiological analyses of the effect on AHW from reduced medicine use and herd improvements are planned in all participating countries

Integrated crop–livestock systems with agroforestry to improve organic animal farming

The livestock sector has to satisfy the growing demand for animal products while reducing its environmental impact, in face of great climatic and market changes. For this reason, there is a necessity to redesign livestock production systems in order to make them more sustainable and adaptable. IFS (crop-livestock-trees) could be a viable option to achieve the above-mentioned global goals. Moreover, the implementation of conservation agriculture practices proved to improve crop-livestock beneficial effects. This review paper aims at highlighting the scientific knowledge existing regarding the advantages and limitations of crop-livestock systems including agroforestry and conservation agriculture practices. This shows that integration (this integration can take different operational structures-farming systems) can be a positive approach to achieve farm’s sustainability

Impact of animal health and welfare planning on medicine use, herd health and production in European organic dairy farms

A reduction of medicine use (udder treatments, metabolic treatments and total number of treatments) in organic dairy herds was achieved within a time period of one year under different conditions across seven European countries. At the same time an improvement of udder health (SCS) and a stable situation in other health areas (metabolic disorders, fertility) was found, however regardless of the focus area in the AHWP. The AHWP process which was implemented on the farms may therefore be regarded a feasible approach to minimise medicine use without impairment of health, longevity and productivity under most European organic dairy farming conditions. However, further long-term studies are necessary to investigate effects of specific advice included in herd health and welfare plans