208 A
. Sundrum Livestock Production Science 67 2001 207 –215
pressure on the production costs. As a consequence, al feed is authorised. The maximum percentage per
organic agriculture depends to a high degree on the year is 10 in the case of herbivores and 20 for
consumers’ demands for organically produced prod- other species. The use of synthetic amino acids and
ucts and for added values like biodiversity, species growth promoters is forbidden.
preservation, protection of nature, of landscape, of The minimal standards in relation to animal
groundwater or of animals etc. which are closely welfare are primarily focussed on locomotion area,
related to the production process Philips and Soren- floor characteristics and husbandry practices. Dry
sen, 1993; Knauer, 1995; Mignolet et al., 1997. This litter as well as group penning are prescribed for all
requires a consumer-oriented approach in response to farm animals. Tethering of farm animals is forbid-
shifting market principles. den. The indoor area is supplemented by an outdoor
In contrast to conventional livestock production, area that must be at least 75 of the indoor area.
organic livestock farming is defined by basic guide- There is, however, a scepticism from scientists
lines. The first guidelines have been developed by a towards the effectiveness of organic agriculture in
private association in 1924 in order to elaborate an relation to the self-created goals Branscheid, 1996;
alternative opposite to the development in conven- von Alvensleben, 1998. The question arises whether
tional production Schaumann, 1995. Main aspects the principles of organic livestock farming really
of criticism were the increasing use of chemical enable a markedly better production than convention-
substances, especially mineral fertilizers and pes- al principles. Up to now there are only few compara-
ticides, and the reduced way of thinking in relation tive studies available, which refer to keeping cattle,
to the production process. In contrast to conventional while studies for organic pig and poultry production
agriculture, the farm is considered as a farm organ- are rare. The objective of this paper is to give an
ism, where the integrative and holistic aspects were overview of the current situation in organic livestock
¨ placed into the fore Kopke, 1993.
production with regard to environmentally friendly The guidelines have been formulated and further
production, animal health and welfare, based on developed by the International Federation of Organic
research in the field, and to discuss the possibilities Agriculture Movements IFOAM, 1996 and mean-
of ensuring quality of the products under the basic while have found application all over the world.
standards. Furthermore, the basic standards of IFOAM have
been used as the baseline for developing the EEC- Regulation for organic agriculture.
3. Environmentally friendly production
The main specifications concerning environmen-
2. EEC-Regulation for organic livestock farming tally friendly production in organic livestock farming
have to do with the renunciation of pesticides and In the European Countries, the EEC-Regulation
mineral nitrogen, with the need to reduce the number 1804 1999, supplementing regulation no. 2092 91
of farm animals per area unit and the handicap to on organic production has been passed and will
minimise the amount of bought-in foodstuffs. With- become law in August 2000. The EEC-Regulation
out these substitutes, organic farming must rely on provides a standard that involves the right to label
efficient nutrient circulation within the farm to food as organic. It includes specifications for housing
maintain soil fertility and high production. Reduction conditions, animal nutrition and animal breeding, as
of pollution or energy consumption is reached by a well as animal care, disease prevention and vet-
systemic and causally related approach, while con- erinary treatment and will create a framework for
ventional strategies are often based on technical and organic livestock production and labelling products
management related measures Kristensen and Hal- in all European countries on an equal legal base. The
berg, 1997. maximum number of livestock density is limited to
An overview of the impact of livestock production two livestock units per hectare. For a transition
on climatic factors and a comparison between or- period, the use of a limited proportion of convention-
ganic and conventional production is given by Haas
A . Sundrum Livestock Production Science 67 2001 207 –215
209
¨ and Kopke 1994. The study showed that organic
reduced production level in organic livestock farm- agriculture has clear benefits in reducing environ-
ing Vaarst et al., 1993; Boehncke, 1997. On mental pollution in comparison to conventional
average, milk yield per cow per year in organic agriculture.
production is lower compared to conventional pro- To assess nutrient losses on the farm level, the
duction BMELF, 1997; Kristensen and Kristensen, most common methodologies involve using balance
1998. Because of the renunciation of supple- sheets of the whole farm. Calculations demonstrate
mentation by conventional produced foodstuffs, ge- that the systemic effect of organic agriculture has
netic performance capacities are often not exhausted. great implication on the nutrient balance and the
Although the relationship between milk yield and balance-surplus in relation to the product Halberg et
predisposition for diseases is not well understood, al., 1995; Spiekers and Hahner, 1995; Hoppe et al.,
there are reasons for the assumption that high 1996; Geier et al., 1997; Martinson, 1998. There is
yielders react to inadequate conditions more sensi- reason for the assumption that the benefit of the
tively than animals with an average performance system-related factors on minimising pollution are
Butler and Smith, 1989; Wanner, 1995. much more effective as compared to management-
Mastitis related factors, such as increasing animal perform-
Concerning the incidence of mastitis, studies ance per animal per year. For example, reducing
revealed that mastitis was of the same or even of
21
nitrogen input of 100 kg N ha is more than doubly
greater relevance on organic than on conventional efficient in relation to the balance surplus than
farms Augustburger et al., 1988; Offerhaus et al.,
21
increasing average milk yield for 1.000 kg cow 1993; Krutzinna et al., 1996; Weller and Cooper,
and year Mejs and Mandersloot, 1993. 1996; Spranger, 1998. In contrast Vaarst and
By analyzing
agricultural energy
utilization Enevoldsen 1994 and Ebbesvik and Loes 1994
through system modelling, Refsgaard et al. 1998 found a lower incidence of clinical mastitis in
found conventional dairy production to be more organic compared to conventional dairy herds. It is
intensive with a greater feeding ration and a higher most likely that some local or national conditions
proportion of high-protein feed, but also higher like traditions for management, use of medication or
yields. However, the conventional yields were not herd size could explain differences between the
sufficiently higher to compensate for the extra use of results. However, the limitation of the data do not
energy compared with the organic feeding ration. justify further statements.
In summary, the basic standards of organic farm- Results about the incidence of reproductive dis-
ing provide suitable tools to minimise environmental orders and other diseases in organic dairy herds are
pollution and nutrient losses on the farm level. These less significant due to a small number of farms
seem to be more effective than measures in conven- within those studies. However, studies in different
tional production. However, there is a high vari- countries showed that the reproductive life span of
ability within organic farms in relation to their dairy cows was significantly higher in organic com-
efforts and their nutrient efficiency. pared to conventional farms Offerhaus et al., 1993;
Ebbesvik and Loes, 1994; Krutzinna et al., 1996. ¨
According to Enevoldsen and Grohn 1996, most
4. Disease patterns of the diseases appear to be multivariate responses to
