Search

Organic dairy farming is based on grazing systems and with a strong focus on health promotion, but many organic farms search for solutions to rely less on imported concentrate feed, as well as the use of antibiotics and anthelminthics. Most calves are removed from their dam one day after birth, despite emphasis on naturalness. GrazyDaiSy was built on the aim to develop innovative, resilient and sustainable organic grazing-based dairy systems, and make a better integration of cows and their calves, e.g. allowing mother-infant contact, and to promote health to minimize anthelminthic and antibiotic use. GrazyDaiSy was based on participatory on-farm research, and used an interdisciplinary approach. The project consisted of four work packages, which were: 1) Novel innovative grazing systems, 2) Sustainable maternal care, bonding and debonding between dam and calf, 3) Effective novel animal health and welfare promotion, and 4) Strategies and practices for resilience in a range of European dairy systems. A cross-cutting focus of GrazyDaiSy was on perceptions, visions, and barriers related to transition and use of novel strategies, as well as their daily practices, mostly focused on CCC systems, but also more broadly. Based on interview with farmers and other actors, perceptions, visions, barriers and experience was analysed in relation to views from the cow, the calf, the system and the human actors, emphasizing nutrition, care and learning aspects of dam-rearing and CCC systems. Case studies and interviews were analysed using change and transition theories in a range from behavioural and motivational individual change to community of practice and larger transition theories, and concluded that all levels of change needs to be considered when making radical systemic changes in well-established dairy sectors. GrazyDaiSy researched the use of semi-natural to natural pastures and the results demonstrated a great potential contribution of the forage on semi-natural to natural pastures to forage (protein) supply to grazing lactating cows on organic dairy farms in Europe. In Estonia, e.g., the share of grass in the diets of lactating cows was estimated to be up to 76.7% of the DM consumed during the grazing season. This depends of course on available pasture area and the extent of its use, and there is a great diversity of organic dairy farms differing in farm size and structure, agro-ecological conditions, and pasture, herd, and grazing management strategies. Timing, farmer strategies and environmental and other conditions influence the outcome. Timely adjustment of the onset and frequency of grazing, of the stocking densities on pastures, as well as of the amount and timing of supplement feeding appear to be valuable options for an improved pasture use, whereas the rotation scheme, the duration of daily pasture access, and the type of supplement feed appeared to be of less importance. Observed climate change related issues such as extreme heat and dry weather, called for urgency and the project team focused particularly on strategies addressing these issues. GrazyDaiSy had a strong focus on rearing calves with the dam for an extended period after calving, compared to the practice in most organic dairy farms. One particular focus was male calves, which should be transferred to a fattening farm. Trials showed that keeping calves until 4 weeks of age with the dam at the dairy farm led to improved weights and immune competence at arrival at the fattening farm. Although dam-rearing weight and immune system advantages did not seem to translate to better health at the fattening farm, these calves benefitted from a reduced prevalence of treatments with medicines. Providing hides on pasture to dairy cows show that cows calving for the first time move further away from herd members at calving, and seemed to prefer to isolate themselves more through distance. Results suggested that hides facilitated maternal bonding. Furthermore, it seemed that dams showed more affiliative behaviour to their calves when having full-time cow-calf contact (CCC), rather than part-time contact, later than 48hrs after calving, and that the bond between cow and calf became stronger when the calf suckled the cow, compared to contact without suckling. Environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability of CCC systems were analysed using models based on data, lining up different scenarios with CCC, and concluding that the higher amount of milk drunk by the calves in these systems, influenced the environmental impact of these systems. However, it also called for a broader focus on systems changes and inclusion of other factors such as animal welfare and biodiversity, and a more combined view on dairy herds as milk and meat producing. In GrazyDaiSy, animal health and welfare promoting strategies were researched through observational case studies, and repeatedly demonstrated the importance of context to analyse problems and find solutions, which allowed for co-learning across countries, until activities were partly interrupted due to Covid-19. The difference in management antibiotics was very big, within the frame of EU organic legislation. A strong focus was on calf and heifer health in innovative dairy systems with nurse cows, based on grazing. Cryptosporidiosis was and identified problem, but seemed to be less serious than traditionally reared calves, especially in the mixed grazing systems, where resistant (nurse cows) and susceptible calves grazed together, and they also seemed to avoid problems with intestinal parasites, and were immunised at the second grazing season when they had spent their summer as young calved on grass.

Under natural conditions, most parturient cows seek visual cover or seclude themselves from the herd when calving becomes imminent. Studies on calving site selection of dairy cows housed indoors show that predominantly older and dominant cows calve in secluded areas offering visual cover. This study aimed to investigate if cows distance themselves further from herd members under spacious outdoor conditions and if artificial hides on a pasture motivate cows to seek visual isolation from the herd.

This presentation summarises some of the changing perspectives of and transitions to cow–calf contact systems, including identifying the challenges and benefits of the various types of systems, in particular dam-rearing and nurse-cow systems. No dairy system in the study countries was initially designed to enable cow–calf contact, but a multitude of systems allowing cow–calf contact have since been developed based on existing farm structures. Interviews and case studies show that the development requires significant changes in practices, attitudes and farm structures, all of which require a lot of investment. Research over the last two to three years in this area has considered several potential ways in which organic dairy systems could encompass forms of cow–calf contact. Whilst on the one hand these studies have acknowledged the ‘naturalness’ of cow and calf systems, including the motivation behind them and the need for the cow and calf to be together, ‘unnatural elements’ have also been highlighted, for example the high milk yields, deep udders and large herd sizes in today’s dairy sector. Some issues remain unresolved and the future organic dairy sector will be required to find further solutions. One major issue is that of male calves, which are often removed from their dam early and in an abrupt way. This raises questions as to whether the current development of dam-rearing and other types of cow–calf contact systems can be seen as niche innovations, or as part of a larger change in the socio-technological landscape around dairy farming and calves. These changes are still ongoing in terms of organising new systems that are friendly and less restrictive for cows and calves, and could potentially be part of a larger transition at the systemic dairy farming level.

Interest in dam-rearing of dairy calves is growing among researchers, advisors and farmers. This internal project report collates, synthesizes and conveys scientific evidence and information on systems for dam-rearing as practiced by farmers in northern Europe. We hope this report will serve as inspiration for researchers planning experiments on dam-rearing as well as advisors and farmers developing and implementing systems for dam-rearing in practice.

Many different poultry breeds are kept by smallholder farmers throughout the world, some of whom are organic or agroecological, although not certified organic in all cases. Many of these breeds are locally adapted, multi-purpose, and indigenous. At a global level, smallholder agroecological or organic poultry flocks contribute to food security, protein supply, and the livelihood of many families, especially women, in many smallholder settings. This chapter introduces organic poultry farming and focusses on ways in which its practices can be improved. The chapter examines poultry as part of ecological systems and cycles and considers how the precautionary principle and concepts of naturalness can be applied to this area. The chapter examines health and disease in organic poultry farming and considers animal welfare aspects, such as fairness and good quality of life. Finally, the chapter looks ahead to future research trends in this area.

A common practice in dairy farming is to remove the calf from its mother a few hours after birth. The public debate on the subject has increased, and views on whether the calf should be allowed to stay with its dam for weeks are debated among citizens, farmers, and advisors. The aim of this article is to present, analyse, and discuss experiences and arguments on dam-rearing of calves through interviews with actors, primarily farmers, involved in organic dairy farming in four Euro¬pean countries. The interviews showed that dam-rearing is practiced in a wealth of different systems, and four main points of view should be considered: that of the calf, the cow, the farmer, and the farming system. Three important qualities of cow calf contact systems are described from the animals’ perspective: 1) nutrition, 2) care, and 3) learning. The discussion included ethical considerations referring to the principle of fairness as expressed by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Well-balanced and managed dam-rearing systems are suggested to contribute significantly to the physiological development and natural behaviour of mother cows and calves. The calves obtain capacities and skills through learning from the dam and others in the system. Major efforts are required when organising suitable calf- and cow-friendly dam-rearing systems, and farmer observations must be more careful because they take place in a group and therefore need to account for complex situations. In doing this, the farmer shows animals respect, and treats them justly as part of the ethical alliance between animals and humans cohabiting on a farm. Farm¬ers’ trust in the capabilities of the animals – such as the cow’s ability to look after the calf and the calf’s capability to live in a complex dairy system – seems to partly break with some of the animal husbandry qualities that are often considered important when taking care of cows and calves in a system with early separation. “Being in control” in new ways than previously was identified as a key for human learning in these systems as a part of the shifting focus when observing ani¬mals and spending time with cows and calves differently. In a cow calf contact system, the humans need relies to a higher degree on being able to observe and judge a complex situation than, for example, on giving the calves exactly the same amount of milk of a specific temperature at the same times every day.

Småkalve går i samme flok som de malkende køer i op til 100 dage hos landmand Hans Möller i lentföhrden lige nord for Hamburg.

Tidlig adskillelse af ko og kalv efter fødslen er den gængse praksis og giver mindre brølen og mindre rastløshed, mens senere adskillelse er positivt for kalvens sociale færdigheder og indlæringsevne. Ny forskning peger på en mulig fremtid med øget kontakt mellem ko og kalv.

På omtrent 45 hollandske malkekvægsbedrifter har man gjort det til en rutine at lade køerne passe deres egne kalve i kortere eller længere tid efter råmælksperioden.

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 animals’ perspective: 1) nutrition, 2) care, and 3) learning. The priorities and perceptions of the importance of these three qualities influenced very much the farmers’ 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 ‘friendly’ 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 farmers’ 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 cow’s consistent ‘watching over’ 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 ‘easier’ 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 ‘trusting the animals’ (because they could clearly see that the calves found their way), and ‘being in control’, 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 ‘naturalness’ in relation to dam-rearing. Whilst acknowledging that mother cows and calves were strongly motivated and it was ‘natural’ for them to be together, some farmers also pointed to factors which partly made it ‘unnatural’ 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 ‘calves to stay in the herd’ versus ‘calves to leave the herds’ 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.

The SOLID project (Sustainable Organic Low-Input Dairying) carried out research to improve the sustainability of low-input/organic dairy systems in different ways. This deliverable is part of a series of three that summarise recommendations arising from participatory research with innovative strategies involving farmers, supply chain partners and researchers in the SOLID project.

In organic farming, the use of antibiotics is restricted to treatment of disease. In the USA, use of antibiotics results in an animal losing its organic status. Consequently, organic dairy farmers may have specific approaches to health management and disease treatment. Qualitative interviews were conducted with farmers and stockpersons on eighteen dairy farms in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York State in October 2010. Eight farmers had used antibiotics after conversion on calves and cows. These were isolated cases except for one farmer who consistently treated all calves with Coccidiosis. Antibiotics were missed by one farmer each for lameness and calf disease but otherwise farmers expressed a general satisfaction with alternative treatment plans in conjunction with preventive measures. Overall, there was a strong primary focus on disease prevention which farmers believed to be the cause of lower disease levels in their herd. Managing soil health, feeding a high forage/low grain diet with adequate supplements and less emphasis on yield was universally important, as was daily exercise with access to pasture and good stockpersonship. Hygiene was considered vital for minimizing the spread of any disease present in the herd. Breeding appropriate animals was a further consideration with some farmers preferring to select for specific attributes with pure breeds and others focussing on robustness by cross breeding. Components within existing free- and tie-stall systems were considered to be limiting factors for optimum health on several farms. Most alternative therapies used were for udder disease and then hoof and reproductive disorders as well as calf problems. Farmers highlighted a different timeline when treating disease with alternative therapies with promptness of both diagnosis and starting treatment being key factors in their success. Treatment could also be applied for longer than conventional therapies. Farmers in Wisconsin had previously had full access to a veterinarian specializing in alternative medicine. These farmers tended to use more therapies than elsewhere suggesting a beneficial relationship. In general, veterinarians were used for general health checks and diagnoses with farmers selecting treatments with support from fellow farmers, books, magazines, courses, and consulting advisory services run e.g., by dairy companies. For acute or chronic illness, particularly for animals with a low perceived value, treatment could be terminated/withheld in favour of culling or drying off a quarter.

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) farm-specific, 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. Establishing farmer groups seems to be a beneficial way of stimulating a dynamic development on the farms towards continuous improvement, as in this case with focus on animal health and welfare planning. Various factors influence the process in different contexts, e.g. geographical, cultural, traditional factors, and a proper analysis of the situation as well as the purpose of the group is necessary, and can relevantly be negotiated and co‐developed with farmers as well as facilitators before being implemented. Farmer groups based on farmer‐to‐farmer advice and co‐development need a facilitator who takes on the role of facilitating the process and ‘decodes’ him‐ or herself from being ‘expert’.

A cross-sectional observational study with repeated observations was conducted on 16 Danish dairy farms to quantify the influence of observer, parity, time (stage in lactation) and farm on variables routinely selected for inclusion in clinical protocols, thereby to enable a more valid comparison of udder health between different herds. During 12 months, participating herds were visited 5 times by project technicians, who examined 20 cows and scored the selected clinical variables. The estimates of effect on variables were derived from a random regression model procedure. Statistical analyses revealed that, although estimates for occurrence of several the variables, e.g. degree of oedema, varied significantly between observers, the effects on many of these estimates were similar in size. Almost all estimates for occurrences of variables were significantly affected either parity and lactation stage, or by both e.g. udder tissue consistency. Some variables, e.g. mange, had high estimates for the farm component, and others e.g. teat skin quality had a high individual component. Several of the variables, e.g. wounds on warts, had a high residual component indicating that a there still was a major part of the variation in data, which was unexplained. It was concluded that most of the variables were relevant for implementation in herd health management, but that adjustments need to be made to improve reliability.

Nærværende bog bygger på erfaringerne fra et projekt for udfasning af antibiotika i økologiske malkekvægbesætninger. Projektet gennemføres i et samarbejde mellem Thise Mejeri, Økologisk Landsforening og Danmarks JordbrugsForskning. Der inddrages også enkelte erfaringer opsamlet i tidligere projekter samt udpluk fra forskellige litteratur-kilder – f.eks. viden om forskellige urter, sygdomme og homøopatiske midler. I løbet af projektet, som blev indledt i 2004 og afsluttes i 2006, er det lykkedes at halvere forbruget af antibiotika i 21 økologiske malkekvægsbesætninger, uden at gå på kompromis med sundheden. Der er intet mystisk eller uforståeligt i de strategier, som de 21 landmænd har brugt til at minimere forbruget af antibiotika. Som det fremgår af denne bog, handler det grundlæggende om at skabe harmoni i og omkring besætningen. Det vil sige god hygiejne og fodring, frisk luft, plads, konsekvent indgriben når det er nødvendigt, og målrettet opfindsomhed. Når medicin skal gøres overflødig, skal sundheden forbedres på flere planer: • Det enkelte dyr i en besætning skal blive sundere og mere robust. • Hele besætningen skal blive sundere. Det er afgørende, at såvel de fysiske rammer som pasningen giver forudsætningerne for øget sundhed. • Gården skal blive sundere. Det er et stort og fornemt mål, hvor det handler om at få en god balance og harmoni mellem dyrene, menneskene, jorden, hele bedriften og dens omgivelser. En bedre sundhedstilstand kræver en indsats af landmanden og andre personer i bedriften. Der skal arbejdes med at blive bevidst om muligheder, svagheder og styrker, samtidig med man skal indrette den daglige arbejdsrytme og gården i harmoni med strategien for fremme af sundheden. Desuden skal man justere på sig selv, f.eks. ved at styrke sig på sine svage punkter. Uanset om man hører til den gruppe, som gerne vil udfase antibiotika helt fra besætningen, eller man blot gerne vil nedbringe forbruget, er denne bog tænkt som en hjælp til at komme fremad. Man kan selvfølgelig også få inspiration fra den, selvom man ikke er økolog. Når vi har fokuseret på økologisk malkekvægbrug, er det fordi, økologien har en målsætning om god dyrevelfærd og ingen anvendelse af kemiske hjælpestoffer. Vi har også taget udgangspunkt i de økologiske principper og regler, som f.eks. at dyrene skal på græs og opstaldes i grupper. Men det er vores håb, at denne bog kan hjælpe frem mod det konkrete mål, der er for bedre sundhed i hver enkelt besætning, uanset driftsform. Bogen og den tilhørende hjemmeside skal opdateres løbende, efterhånden som der kommer flere erfaringer på banen. Selvom teksten nogle steder repeterer kendte anbefalinger og generel viden, f.eks. introduktion til forskellige sygdomme, er bogen ikke tænkt som en lærebog eller håndbog i malkekvæghold. I forvejen er der masser af gode bøger om fodring, malkning, staldbyggeri, avl osv., som man kan bruge, hvis man er særligt interesseret eller har problemer indenfor et eller andet område. Derimod giver denne bog nogle overordnede linier og en samling gode råd, som er fremkommet på grundlag af konkrete erfaringer fra en række landmænd, der har arbejdet målrettet med udfasning af antibiotika. Mange af erfaringerne er ikke underbygget med dokumentation eller litteratur, men er blot beskrevet ud fra praksis. Ofte er det i virkeligheden blot, hvad man kan kalde sund fornuft. Bogen er i første omgang udarbejdet af undertegnede. Men heldigvis har ingen patent på gode råd, som forbedrer livet for de dyr, vi har taget ind i vores husholdning, og dagligdagen for de mennesker, som har ansvaret for dem. Så kære læser: Brug løs og tag gerne kopier af bogen. Jo mere erfaringerne kan bruges, jo bedre! God fornøjelse med at læse og tænke indholdet af denne bog ind i driften på den enkelte gård efter eget ønske, behov og baggrund!

I 2004 startede vi et projekt, hvor fire grupper af landmænd skulle udvikle strategier til at udfase antibiotika fra deres besætninger gennem forbedringer i stald, rutiner og mark. Grupperne kaldte vi Staldskoler. Denne håndbog er baseret på erfaringer fra dette projekt sammen med teorier om læring og den er blevet til i forbindelse med uddannelse af staldskolefacilitatorer. Målgruppen er både landmænd og konsulenter. Staldskolerne bygger på en anden læringsform end de traditionelle ekspertsystemer og man arbejder i stedet med ligeværdig fælles læring. Derfor er bogen skrevet i en praktisk og lettilgængelig stil krydret med udtalelser fra de landmænd, som deltog i de første staldskoler. I samme ånd er håndbogens teoretiske del placeret til sidst og beskriver kun det vigtigste udvalg af grundidéer. Dem der ønsker at gå mere i dybden med læringsteorierne bag staldskolerne kan finde inspiration i håndbogens litteraturliste.

Der er flere gode grund til at bringe forbruget af antibiotika i besætninger med økologisk malkekvæg ned på et absolut minimum. Ja, den del af argumenterne gælder såmænd også for konventionelle besætninger. Brug af antibiotika er i modstrid med de økologiske idéer om at forebygge i stedet for at helbrede, og om at arbejde med naturen i stedet for imod den. Målsætningen om at nedbringe forbruget af antibiotika indgår da også i de fælles europæiske økologiregler.

The recent development and growth of organic livestock farming and the related development of national and international regulations has fuelled discussions among scientists and philosophers concerning the proper conceptualisation of animal welfare. These discussions on livestock welfare in organic farming draw on the conventional discussions and disputes on animal welfare, which involve issues such as different definitions of welfare (clinical health, absence of suffering, sum of positive and negative experiences, etc.), the possibility for objective measures of animal welfare and the acceptable level of welfare. It seems clear that livestock welfare is a value-laden concept and that animal welfare science cannot be made independent of questions of values and ethics. The question investigated here is whether those values that underpin organic farming, in particular, also affect the interpretation of livestock welfare and, if so, how. While some of the issues raised in connection with organic farming are relatively uncontroversial, others are not. The introduction of organic farming values seems to introduce new criteria for what counts a good animal welfare, as well as a different ethical basis for taking moral decisions on welfare. Organic farming embodies distinctive systemic or communitarian ethical ideas and the organic values are connected to a systemic conception of nature, of agriculture, of the farm and of the animal. The new criteria of welfare are related to concepts such as naturalness, harmony, integrity and care. While the organic values overlap with those involved in the conventional discussion of animal welfare, some of them suggest a need to set new priorities and to re-conceptualise animal welfare – for example, with respect to 'naturalness', in relation to the possibilities for expression of natural behaviour and in relation to animal integrity as a concept for organismic harmony. The organic perspective also seems to suggest a wider range of solutions to welfare problems than changes in farm routines or operations on the animals. The systemic solutions include the choice and reproduction of suitable breeds, changes in the farm structure, and changes in the larger production and consumption system - including consumer perceptions and preferences. But the organic values may also call for sacrifices of individual welfare in a conventional sense in order to advance welfare from the perspective of organic farming. Whether this is good or bad cannot be decided without entering into an inquiry and discussion of the values and ethics involved.

De senere år har mange landmænd investeret i nye kalvestalde, kalvekøkkener og mælketildelingsudstyr for at sikre hygiejne og gode managementrutiner. Mange forbrugere og organisationer stiller samtidig flere og flere spørgsmålstegn ved hvorfor ko og kalv ikke er sammen i længere end 24 timer i den økologiske mælkeproduktion. Generelt efterspørges ’naturlighed’ som en vigtig del af dyrenes velfærd, og mange forbinder naturlighed med økologi. Der kan argumenteres for, at det er i tråd med de økologiske principper, som er formuleret i 2005 i IFOAM-regi, at lade ko og kalv få opfyldt deres naturlige behov for at være sammen. At indføre et ko-kalv-system vil ikke desto mindre vende op og ned på de fleste rutiner i de malkekvægsbesætninger, de fleste nu betragter som ’almindelige’ og vil på mange måder kræve anderledes systemer og rutiner. Dette lille hæfte udspringer af erfaringer om og nedskrevne studier i kokalv systemer, og skal betragtes som et ’idékatalog’ til inspiration, som kan rejse nogle vigtige diskussioner og overvejelser i forbindelse med etablering af et ko-kalv-system.

This study aimed at describing the iron status of piglets at weaning in French indoor and outdoor farms. It was carried out in the spring of 2019 in 20 organic farms located in the West of France. In each farm, approximately 30 piglets (half males and females) from 4 to 7 litters were blood sampled. In total, 565 piglets of 42.1±3.2 days of age, weighing 12.0±3.0 kg live weight were bled at 1.1±1.7 days from weaning (mean±SD). Among the 11 outdoor and 9 indoor organic farms that were investigated, iron injection was used in most of indoor farms (200 mg: 8 farms, 100 mg: 1 farm, no supplementation: 1 farm), while in outdoor systems, mostly no supplementation was performed (200 mg: 1 farm, no supplementation: 10 farms). In comparison with the indoor/iron injected piglets, the outdoor/non-supplemented piglets had a greater blood haemoglobin concentration (118 vs. 105 ± 2 g/L, mean±SE, P < 0.001) and a bigger red blood cell volume (60 vs. 56 ± 1 fl, P < 0.01), indicating a better iron status. In the only indoor farm that did not use iron supplementation, these two variables were low (81 ± 3 g/L and 48 ± 1 fl, respectively), suggesting an iron deficiency. To conclude, outdoor piglets find a sufficient amount of iron in their natural environment, probably by foraging and ingesting soil, to fulfil their needs. Indoors, an iron supplementation is necessary, but a single intramuscular iron injection, besides its controversial acceptability in organic farming, might be suboptimal to prevent anaemia in piglets. Thus, there is a need for finding alternative solutions to iron injection for newborn piglets.

International audience; The neonatal pig is prone to iron deficiency, which can lead to growth retardation, cognitive and immune deficits. This study aimed at describing the iron status of piglets at weaning in French indoor and outdoor farms.It was carried out in 11 outdoor and 10 indoor organic farms located in the West of France. In each farm, approximately 30 piglets (half males and females) from 4 to 7 litters were blood sampled. In total, 606 piglets of 42 ± 3 days of age, weighing 12.0 ± 3.0 kg live weight were bled at 1.1 ± 1.7 days from weaning (mean ± SD).Iron injections were used in most indoor farms (400 mg: 1 farm, 200 mg: 8 farms, 100 mg: 1 farm, no supplementation: 1 farm), while in outdoor systems, primarily no supplementation was performed (200 mg: 1 farm, no supplementation: 10 farms). In comparison with the indoor where 200 mg of iron was injected, the outdoor non-supplemented piglets had a greater blood haemoglobin concentration (118 vs 105 ± 3 g/L, P < 0.001) and a higher red blood cell volume (60 vs. 54 ± 1 fl, P < 0.01), indicating a better iron status. In the only indoor farm that did not use iron supplementation, these two variables were low (81 ± 3 g/L and 48 ± 1 fl, respectively), showing an iron deficiency. To conclude, outdoor piglets find a sufficient amount of iron in their natural environment to fulfil their needs, probably by foraging and ingesting soil. Indoors, iron supplementation is necessary, but a single intramuscular iron injection, besides its controversial acceptability in organic farming, might be suboptimal to prevent anaemia in piglets. Thus, there is a need for finding alternative oral solutions to iron injection, ensuring a sufficient, natural and progressive iron intake to newborn piglets.

Within the CORE Organic Cofund project POWER, European stakeholders and scientists identifiedelements to improve animal welfare and reduce environmental impact in concrete outdoorruns for organic growing-finishing pigs. The selected innovations included 1) roughage, 2)showers, and 3) rooting areas. We evaluated the effectiveness of these innovations on ninecommercial organic pig farms in three European countries (Austria, Switzerland and Denmark).This multi-centre study requires a common approach to ensure the best possible standardisationregarding experimental set-up and data collection whilst acknowledging differences betweencountries and farms. Assessment protocols including animal-based (clinical and behavioural)indicators were jointly developed. To ensure comparable results, training and inter-observerreliability testing took place in on-farm sessions and via online training and showedacceptable to good agreement. Preliminary descriptive results of the three experiments arepresented for clinical indicators, pig faecal soiling and use of the outdoor run. Most clinicalindicators showed a low prevalence across all farms and experiments. For pig soiling, a potentialeffect was only observed in pigs with access to showers; they were slightly cleaner. Theuse of outdoor runs was generally high and seemed to be influenced by the improvementmeasures. We conclude that multi-centre on-farm studies are suitable for ensuring externalvalidity as an important step in implementing improvement measures. However, the high effortfor training and potential trade-offs between the highest possible standardisation and the needto adapt to farm-specific conditions must be acknowledged when planning such projects

Early separation of cow and calf is still common practice on dairy farms. In recent years, interest in mother-bonded calf rearing practices has increased. They are considered to be animal-friendly, labour-saving and health-promoting for the calf. However, these systems are challenging, e.g. regarding the cow's willingness to let down milk or the pain of separation after establishing a social bonding. We tested the hypothesis that calves allowed dam suckling (DS) twice a day would benefit concerning weight gain, health-related traits and show fewer behavioural disorders (oral manipulations) compared to bucket fed (BF) group mates. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of cow-calf contact compared to bucket feeding on selected immune parameters in calf blood and cow milk.

Organic farmers adhere to high standards in producing quality food while protecting the envi-ronment and ensuring animal health and welfare. However, organic farming needs to improve continuously to keep meeting its ambitious objectives. The project ‘Replacement of Conten-tious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems’ (RELACS)fosters the development and adoption of tools and techniques to further reduce the use of external inputs on organic farms. RELACS takes far-advanced solutions forward. With regard to animal husbandry, this is brought about by (i) developing integrated endoparasite control strategies for ruminants by exploiting bioactive forages (heather) and the biocontrol agent Duddingtonia flagrans.(ii) reducing dependency on antibiotic use in dairy cows by transferring Animal Health and Welfare Planning protocols and by refining the use of essential oils.(iii) exploring the potential for reduction or replacement of synthetic/GMO produced vitamins by validating requirement definitions and by developing GMO-free vitamin B production.This paper gives an overview of the overall work plan related to livestock and presents se-lected results obtained during the first 18-month period of RELACS. Outcomes of the REL-ACS-survey on the use of antibiotics and anthelmintics are presented by Chylinski et al. in these proceedings

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.

The organic principle of health highlight ‘the wholeness and integrity of living systems’. It is not simply the absence of illness, but the maintenance of physical, mental, social and ecological well-being. Immunity, resilience and regeneration are key characteristics of health. We often articulate health as ‘disease freedom’. If we see ‘resilience’ as a key component of health, we focus more on how we can meet the species-specific needs and challenges of each animal species, both as individuals (physical and mental well-being), as groups (social well-being), and in their surroundings and their landscapes in many different contexts (ecological well-being). The human responsibility towards animals is to understand their natural needs, organize the surroundings to allow the animals to meet them, and at the same time be ready to intervene to prevent or stop suffering. The chapter gives practical and research-based examples of how to support the different aspects of animal health.

Livestock is a key element of organic agriculture. The concept of closed nutrient cycles requires the close integration of crop and livestock systems whenever possible within a farm, or at least within regions (e.g. IFOAM, 2014; Bioland, 2016; Bio Suisse, 2016). Ruminants play a particularly important role in integrated organic systems, since they can efficiently utilize grassland resources, legume forages from crop rotations and crop residues, and they provide valuable manure for the soil. However, large amounts of concentrates are still fed to organic cattle, requiring the transport of soya bean on a large scale across the globe (Früh et al., 2014) with severe ecological and social consequences (Pellentier and Tyedmers 2010; Semino et al., 2009). Furthermore, the demand for arable land areas to produce cereals for organic ruminant production is still very high. This is a status quo that should be overcome against the background of the environmental and social claims of organic agriculture (IFOAM, 2014). On the other hand, it is particularly the ruminal digestion of fibre which produces methane, thus directly impacting climate change dynamics in a most problematic way (Beauchemin et al., 2008). In this context, a dilemma of contemporary ruminant production becomes obvious, which is of particular relevance for the targets of organic systems as there seem to be serious contradictions between some of the key aspects of sustainable livestock production. These can be summarized as follows: a) Globally, it appears unavoidable to make efficient and ecologically sustainable use of the large permanent grassland resources for animal source food production, thereby lowering the demand for livestock feed from arable land (Wilkinson, 2011; O’Mara, 2012; Schader et al., 2015). b) Ruminants, as important providers of dairy and meat products, are the most efficient livestock species to utilize fibrous grassland swards (Clauss et al., 2010), and are, compared to poultry and pigs, less efficient in utilizing human-edible feedstuffs, when these are fed in high proportions (Wilkinson, 2011). c) The digestion of fibre is the most prominent source of enteric methane production in ruminants (Johnson and Johnson, 1995). This results in the apparent dilemma that the more a ruminant production system is based on roughages and avoids concentrates, the higher the methane emission is per unit of product (Beauchemin et al., 2008; Grandl et al., 2016), a challenge which is even more relevant for organic dairy production, due to lower yields. Possible options to deal with this dilemma are more holistic and systemic views on agricultural production systems, the integration of milk and meat production in dual-output production systems (Zehetmeier et al., 2012), the integration of feeding systems with breeding schemes (Spengler Neff et al., 2007) and critically assessing what level of demand for animal products is reasonable and responsible (Schader et al., 2015). Furthermore, organic principles aim at high animal welfare, based on choice of suitable breeds, species-appropriate management, housing and feeding conditions. This implies space requirements, animal-friendly barn systems, explicit framing of the human–animal relationship and, again, the principle that ruminant grazers such as cattle and sheep should be predominantly fed on roughages, while high proportions of concentrates are considered inappropriate for these species. This is another reason why organic principles include restrictions on supplying ruminants with concentrates. Animal health is a further key target of organic dairy systems. Currently, the average productive lifetime of dairy cows in conventional systems is clearly lower than three lactations in many industrialized countries (Knaus, 2009; Stiglbauer et al., 2013). The most common reasons for culling are fertility problems, diseases of the mammary gland or lameness (Pritchard et al., 2013), which may all be considered to be potentially related to metabolic problems due to high yields and inappropriate feeding (Knaus, 2009). There is no general evidence that the figures are better for organic cows, but the high significance of animal welfare in organic standards requires farmers to pay particular attention to this problem. This is further reinforced by the fact that realizing a long productive lifespan integrates higher animal welfare with environmental and production efficiency (Zehetmeier et al., 2012; Grandl et al., 2016). In conclusion, the main issue requiring a solution for sustainable organic dairy production is the proper fit of regionally available feed resources, feeding systems and breeding strategies with the target of optimal roughage utilization, low emissions and healthy long-living cows. The implied contradictions represent big tasks for research and system development and are a core challenge for achieving sustainable food systems.

Organic pig production strives to provide housing and management conditions that guarantee a high level of animal health and welfare, sustainability, a closed soil–plant–animal cycle and produce high-quality products. This chapter discusses how housing of organic pigs affects welfare and the environment, and outlines how organic production systems are desperately in need of alternatives to feedstuffs that are in direct competition with human nutrition. The chapter examines why certain breeding goals should be adapted to organic conditions, and which health problems are typical for organic housing systems. Finally, the chapter shows how waiving of castration could be a challenge but also a chance for organic pig production and looks ahead to future research trends in this area.

As the organic dairy farming sector grows across Europe, it is necessary to continuously review its various merits and challenges within the organic sector and in comparison with conventional farming methods. Drawing together empirical findings from across the Europe, this chapter summarises some of the major issues surrounding organic dairy farming, such as the effects on herd health, regulations around pasture access and different methods of calf rearing. It then considers a number of current ‘hot topics’ in this area, including the self-sufficiency of concentrated feeds and the effect of organic methods on udder health. The chapter concludes that organic dairy farming presents many potential benefits, but notes that improvements are necessary, particularly in the area of animal health. It emphasises that solutions to current problems must be site-specific, while observing that particularly successful strategies could serve as helpful models in both organic and conventional dairy farms.

In this chapter we first give an overview of different interpretations of animal welfare and their relation to different lay and expert approaches to animal welfare. The importance of values to animal welfare is discussed and confronted with the role of science and the scientific ideals of value-freedom and objectivity. The interpretations of animal welfare are then compared with different frameworks from bio-ethics, which can help clarify the moral aspects of animal welfare. The values of organic farming are then discussed as a departure point for a discussion of what a relevant view of animal welfare might be like, in the context of organic farming. This reveals obvious conflicts between different values within organic farming, and some of these dilemmas are illustrated by examples from the organic practice. Finally, we indicate the relevance of such philosophical questions on values and the meaning of animal welfare for the future course of the organic movement.

In many European countries, organic pigs are housed indoors with a concrete outdoor run.However, previous results have shown that combined systems with indoor housing and accessto pasture have some advantages concerning animal welfare and environmental impact comparedto sole indoor systems. These combined systems vary considerably across countries.Some farmers have only specific age categories on pasture, some provide limited access andothers developed new approaches to management or infrastructure.The goal of this study, which is part of the CORE Organic Cofund POWER project, was toanalyse specific innovations in combined systems for weaners, fatteners and sows in Denmark,Italy and Switzerland. For example, the selected innovations comprise a self-constructedmobile pen on a trailer, which is large enough to keep the pigs on the trailer if the weather doesnot allow them to use the pasture. Another example was a mobile pen that can be moved,including the attached fences. Moreover, farms with innovative management practices wereincluded, like the alternating use of grassland, cropland and forest.The selected farms have been visited four times between summer 2019 and autumn 2020.Trained observers assessed individual animal health and welfare status according to a commonprotocol. Indicators were, for example, species-specific behaviour, lesions, lameness orbody condition score. Farmers provided extensive data regarding farm management, feed production,housing etc., to analyse the different systems and identify their strength and weaknesses.The farmers' experiences, the collected data and analysis of the different innovativesystems were summarised in factsheets to use this knowledge for advising other farms. Thesefactsheets can help to diversify and improve such combined systems.