Increased integrity in organic dairy production
Recently the requirements for the organic milk production have been strengthened. Today the feeding must be 100 percent organic, use of synthetic vitamins will soon be prohibited and alternatives to antibiotics must be used when their effect has been documented.
These new requirements have made self-sufficiency or use of only Danish feedstuffs more relevant. Strategies with a higher degree of self-sufficiency will increase the importance of the feedstuffs being produced on the farm, conservation and storage of the feed and the composition of the ration.
Our hypothesis is that the ration throughout the year can be balanced in a way that fulfils the requirements for vitamins and that on some soil types the requirements for micro minerals can also be fulfilled.
Vitamins and minerals are of great importance for the health and production of the animals, and they also affect the nutritional value of the products. The highest concentration of vitamins is found in the fresh green leaves of the crops. Some herbs and crops have especially high levels of one or more minerals. The increasing use of corn silage in Danish dairy herds has a drawback since corn is low in both vitamins and minerals compared to grass and legumes. The content of vitamins and minerals will depend on the season, the production and the content of minerals in the soil. Knowledge about these aspects could be used to control the level of vitamins and minerals in the forage.
A large number of Danish organic herds are located on sandy soils, characterized by a low content of minerals. Thus self-sufficiency with all minerals in herds raised on these soils might by impossible. In wintertime dairy cows might have problems with sufficient supply of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E, especially from conserved feedstuff. In this project the role of the choice of forage crops will be examined by controlled field experiments and by studies on selected farms with different soil types. In a PhD. study running parallel with this project, the role of sunlight for the supply of vitamin D to dairy cows will be examined.
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Whereas the minerals will normally not be lost during storage, the vitamins will undergo continuous degradation. In the project the role of the conservation method, the conditions at harvest and choice of crops will be studied. The results obtained will be used to conduct controlled experiments with two different rations with the first optimised to supply the cow with the best possible amount of vitamins and minerals from natural sources and the other ration optimised for the best possible production economy.
The complex interactions between forage crops, growing conditions and the availability of vitamins and minerals are one of the reasons that inorganic supplements of minerals and synthetic vitamins are used to a large extent in organic dairy farming today. However, in a few cases indication of mineral or vitamin-deficiency can be found. In the project the micro-mineral status will be assessed in a number of dairy herds that have already been presented with some of the possibilities for an integrated supply of vitamins and minerals. The level of minerals will be compared to the health of the animals (mastitis-indicators). In a controlled experiment the possibilities for and effect of an integrated vitamin and mineral supply including the strategic choice of forage crops and feed management in a dairy herd will be evaluated.
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Changes in forage crops and the ration affects many aspect on the organic farm. In the project the con-sequences of an integrated approach to vitamin- and mineral supply will be accessed by system analysis based on information from a number of farms. Based on the results from the other part of the project and the farmers experiences tools for decision support and simulation of the consequences will be developed.
According to the EU-regulations for organic livestock production, alternatives to antibiotics should be chosen if they have a documented effect. In the USA the use of antibiotics for organic animals is not allowed; treated animals lose their organic status forever.
A central element in both regulations is to prevent disease by promoting healthy and robust animals. The consequences of these strategies are not fully described and the choice of alternatives to antibiotics is almost only based on the farmers’ own experience. The documentation for most of the products used, primarily based on plants like Aloe vera and garlic, and improvement of the mineral status by e.g. seaweed and stone dust as well as other kinds of alternative treatment like acupuncture and homeopathy is very limited. This means that the restrictions in the EU-regulation do not have any real impact today. In the project information on common practices in the USA and a number of European countries will be collected and the most promising treatment protocol will be examined through controlled experiments.
Project title
Increased integrity in organic dairy production through natural sources of vitamins and minerals and non-antibiotic health control (ECOVIT)
Project leader
Torben Werner Bennedsgaard, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, Institute of Animal Health, Welfare and Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Research Centre Foulum P.O. Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele. Phone: (+45) 8999 1541; Fax: (+45) 8999 1500. E-mail: TorbenW.bennedsgaard@agrsci.dk
Project participants
Troels Kristensen, Lisbeth Mogensen, Karen Søegaard, Søren Krogh Jensen, Jakob Sehested, Mette Vaarst, Torben Larsen (Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus)
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