Animal health and welfare in organic livestock production in Europe: current state and future challenges

Existing data on animal health and welfare in organic livestock production systems in the European Community countries are reviewed in the light of the demands and challenges of the recently implemented EU regulation on organic livestock production. The main conclusions and recommendations of a 3-ye...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Livestock production science 2003, Vol.80 (1), p.41-53
Main Authors: Hovi, M, Sundrum, A, Thamsborg, S.M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal health
Animal welfare
decision support systems
European Union
farm income
livestock
livestock production
Organic livestock production
organic production
Organic standards
parasites
production technology
public health
Review
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Summary:Existing data on animal health and welfare in organic livestock production systems in the European Community countries are reviewed in the light of the demands and challenges of the recently implemented EU regulation on organic livestock production. The main conclusions and recommendations of a 3-year networking project on organic livestock production are summarised and the future challenges to organic livestock production in terms of welfare and health management are discussed. The authors conclude that, whilst the available data are limited and the implementation of the EC regulation is relatively recent, there is little evidence to suggest that organic livestock management causes major threats to animal health and welfare in comparison with conventional systems. There are, however, some well-identified areas, like parasite control and balanced ration formulation, where efforts are needed to find solutions that meet with organic standard requirements and guarantee high levels of health and welfare. It is suggested that, whilst organic standards offer a good framework for animal health and welfare management, there is a need to solve apparent conflicts between the organic farming objectives in regard to environment, public health, farmer income and animal health and welfare. The key challenges for the future of organic livestock production in Europe are related to the feasibility of implementing improved husbandry inputs and the development of evidence-based decision support systems for health and feeding management.
ISSN:0301-6226
1872-6070
DOI:10.1016/S0301-6226(02)00320-2