Supporting dairy herds in the conversion from dehorned to horned animals or from tethered to loose housing with the involvement of model farms as a basis for qualified advice in dairy farming (horns in loose housing)
Project Leader: Dr. Johns, Julia; Prof. Dr. Knierim, Ute
Project participants: Mück, Ulrich; Sixt, Dieter; Poddey, Eike; Kremer, Hans-Josef
Project description:
35 conversion farms
and 5 already established comparison farms were accompanied scientifically and
by consulting over 5 years. On the basis of repeated status quo analyses, the
findings from individual farm advice, the exchange of knowledge in
experience groups, the inclusion of practitioners' experiences, surveys on
self-catching feed fences on 31 farms and the literature, a
"toolbox for keeping horn-bearing dairy cows" was developed. This gives
systematic guidance on how to determine the status quo with regard to horn-related damage at
and evaluate it using a traffic light system. If necessary, it enables
to identify the causes and make recommendations for improvements. One of
the results of the project was that most of the
clashes resulting in injury, with individual differences between farms, took place in the feeding and
waiting area and during exit from the milking parlor. The reduction of
competitive situations, the promotion of a calm herd and a good overview
at the drinking troughs for the cows proved to be consistently favorable
for the reduction of horn-related damage. On farms with good interaction between
animals, husbandry, herd management and humans, low levels of horn-related damage
were recorded, even if some aspects, such as aisle widths or dead ends,
did not comply with the usual recommendations. At the same time, the more practical recommendations were met, the
less damage generally occurred. Additional investigations
on 21 farms in the 4th year showed a positive effect of summer
grazing on skin damage. The occurrence of blood milk, systematically recorded in 25
herds in the 5th year, was reduced by reduced feed competition. The latest
surveys on 20 farms showed that some of the successes of the advisory process
only become visible in the longer term. The project results were transferred into practice in 10
practical workshops and 2 advisor training courses.
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) via the BLE as part of the Federal Program for Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (BöLN)
In cooperation with: Bioland Beratung GmbH and Demeter e.V.
Publications: