As a part of the study „Health and performance of dairy cows in organic farming from
an interdisciplinary point of view – an (intervention-) study on metabolic disorders and
mastitis with regard to forage production, feeding management and husbandry practices”
quarter milk samples from cows at dry off and after calving were taken by farmers
in 86 dairy farms in Germany between January and July 2008. The objective of this
study was to evaluate mastitis prevalence at dry off and at calving and the evaluation
of different therapeutic regimes at dry off. 681 cows from 86 dairy farms were examined.
Mastitis prevalence at dry off was comparable to conventional farms. At calving
organic farms have high mastitis prevalence due to a low cure rate and a high new
infection rate in the dry period. The non-use of dry cow antibiotics or teat sealers result
in significantly lower cure rates on quarter level (29.4% vs. 37.4%) and higher new
infection rates (34.1% vs. 39.5%). The results show, that dry period is a high-risk
period for udder health in organic dairy farms. Improvements of the hygienic conditions,
the immune defence and the therapeutic regimes offer high potentials for improvement
of udder health
