Abstract
This paper presents first data on the udder health status of organic dairy farms in Northern Spain and analyses some management and productive characteristics related to milk production comparing with the conventional sector. Five certified organic farms from the Cantabrian Region were monitored monthly from February 2006 to January 2008 and individual samples of all lactating cows were taken from parturition to the end of lactation. Although organic farms in our study showed a great individual variability, overall these were small (<50 lactating cows) traditional farms, with a high degree of pasture (66-82% dry matter intake) and a milk production (average milk yield: 5950 L) 23% lower compared with the reference conventional sector (<50 cow farms). The organic farms had higher (p<0.05) average number of calves per cow (3.93) and a lower number of first-lactation cows (16.9%) than the comparable conventional farms (2.47 calves per cow and 33.1% first-lactation cows). Organic farms showed higher (p<0.05) somatic cell counts (SCC) than the reference conventional farms (mean log10±SD for all cows: 5.25±0.49 and 5.06±0.59, respectively). Detailed analysis of the SCC depending on the number of lactation and % of monthly SCC tests with linear scores indicative of udder infection suggest that while the heifers’ sanitary condition at the beginning of their productive cycle was similar in both types of farms, this seems to become worse along the productive cycle in the organics. This could be related to a low use of antibiotics for prophylaxis and treatment of udder infections and merits further investigation.
Highlights
Organic farming promotes a combination of providing good-quality feedstuffs, no use of chemical products, appropriate livestock husbandry systems and correct management practices to deal with the principles of health, ecology, fairness and care (IFOAM, 2014).it seems that the standards associated with organic farming cannot per se to ensure either higher levels of animal health and welfare or safe livestock food products (Vaarst et al, 2006; Fall et al, 2008)
Milk production in the organic farms in our study was 23% and 42% lower when compared with the reference (
When somatic cell counts (SCC) was higher in organic farms, this seemed to be associated to a higher prevalence of subclinical mastitis (Busato et al, 2000; Hovi & Roderick, 2000; Zwald et al, 2004; Roesch et al, 2007)
Summary
Organic farming promotes a combination of providing good-quality feedstuffs, no use of chemical products, appropriate livestock husbandry systems and correct management practices to deal with the principles of health, ecology, fairness and care (IFOAM, 2014) It seems that the standards associated with organic farming cannot per se to ensure either higher levels of animal health and welfare or safe livestock food products (Vaarst et al, 2006; Fall et al, 2008). European organic producers are subject to EC (2008) regulation but there is a lack of uniformity of standards because countries differ in characteristics such as climate, availability of resources, herd structures, economic conditions and disease prevalence, cultural differences in the perception of problems and expertise to deal with them (Vaarst et al, 2006) This makes that development in organic farming practice has to be set — and their results to be analysed — in a national, regional or even local context. The restrictions on the use of antibiotics for the treatment of clinical mastitis as well as the explicit prohibition of blanket dry-cow therapy (the mainstay of any mastitis control program in conventional farming) in favor of alternative therapies as homeopathy can difficult the mastitis control
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