Animal Health & Welfare

The current consumer demand for organic dairy products has caused an unprecedented rise in the number of farms converting to organic production.

Potential impacts of organic regulations on animal welfare

One of the aims of organic systems is to prevent and control diseases with minimal use of antibiotics. This will affect how animals are treated and may alter recovery and incidence rates.

Organic certification bodies stipulate a minimum inclusion level of forage in the diet, thereby reducing the contribution of concentrate. Potentially this could affect the health and welfare of cattle which have been bred to perform on high energy diets.

Organic regulations recommend changes in herd management, such as a decrease in stocking density. This, in turn, may have a positive effect on the health and welfare of livestock.

Priority traits in organic dairying

The incidence of disease and metabolic challenge in organic dairy systems is poorly understood. A project at SAC is comparing the susceptibility to disease of animals in organic and conventional systems and examining whether modern genotypes of dairy cattle are metabolically capable of withstanding the lower inputs of organic production. The research note to the right (‘The welfare of dairy cows in organic milk production systems’) provides further information on the aims of this project.

Organic production systems invariably have different economic priorities than their conventional counterparts. Because prophylactic drug use is prohibited, the economic returns from greater resistance to diseases in organic systems are potentially greater than in conventional systems. Additionally, due to the lower reliance on concentrates in organic production, cattle are required which can perform satisfactorily on this lower level of input.

SAC asked organic farmers to score 28 breeding goals. Those ranked 1-10 by the producers are shown here. To emphasise the difference in the needs of organic versus conventional farmers it is noteworthy that the most important production trait identified by conventional farmers, milk yield, entered the rankings at 17. The top 10 were all related to health, fertility and longevity.

 

Rank	Trait
1	General disease resistance
2	Mastitis resistance
3	Longevity
4	Somatic cell count (sub-clinical mastitis resistance)
5	Female fertility
6	Forage intake capacity
7	Feet and leg strength
8	Susceptibility to lameness
9	Resistance to parasite infestation
10	Robustness/hardiness

Cross-breeding and within-breed selection

Heterosis (hybrid vigour) is the average difference in expression of a trait between crossbred and purebred animals and is considered "useful" when a desired trait is expressed more in the crossbred offspring than in either of its purebred parents. Usually it is associated with an increase in health and fertility and therefore would be of some use in a breeding programme aimed at organic producers.

Research at SAC made the following findings using UK dairy herd data:

• No useful heterosis was found in any cross for production traits (milk, fat and protein yields, fat % and protein %)
• Useful heterosis was found for somatic cell count (SCC) which is correlated with mastitis incidence in first cross animals
• Useful heterosis was found for survival from 1st to 2nd lactation in Ayrshire X Jersey animals
• Useful heterosis was found for calving interval (a proxy trait for fertility) in the Ayshire X Jersey cross

However, an analysis of economic returns has shown that Holsteins and Holstein Friesians consistently out-perform other breeds in both organic and conventional systems. This suggests that crossbreeding may not be the first option to improve profitability on organic farms. Information from the project will help in the calculation of economic values for disease resistance in organic systems.

This may allow the identification of crossbreeds that are both adapted to the organic environment, have higher disease resistance and that will continue to be profitable. However, even if crossing is not adopted, the need for resistance to common health problems, such as mastitis and lameness makes it likely that organic producers will need broader breeding goals, such as those adopted in the Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) (see the Breeding for Health and Welfare tab to the top left for information on this index). 

A major reason why consumers purchase organic dairy products is because animal welfare is perceived to be of a higher standard than in conventional systems.  A particular challenge will be to assign a value to this welfare component in selection indices.  

Use the link to the right to access an SAC organic information pack for general advice on organic issues.

For further general information on organic production visit the Soil Association website whose link is also on the right.