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Farmers taking responsibility for herd health development—stable schools in research and advisory activities as a tool for dairy health and welfare planning in Europe

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Abstract

Achieving and maintaining a high herd health and welfare status is an important aim in organic livestock farming. The varying farming systems across and within countries call for models that are relevant for different farming types and that can be integrated into local practice. In stable schools, farmers take responsibility for health and welfare planning by identifying issues, setting goals, and acting to improve the health situation based on farm-specific data, e.g. milk production. This paper reviews the results from intervention studies that used a modified ‘farmer field school’ approach for animal health and welfare planning, providing an overview of ongoing activities and their implementation into advisory situations in selected European countries. Studies on stable schools as an intervention tool showed improvements regarding the specific project aim on the majority of the participating farms. Farmers and facilitators were convinced of the approach and benefits for dairy herds. Farmers’ attitude and attention towards their herds and their ownership of the process appear to be crucial success factors for herd health and welfare situations. In some European countries, this method has been implemented in advisory practice, and in other regions, there are relevant and promising opportunities.

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Acknowledgments

All farmers in the different projects are gratefully acknowledged for their cooperation, active participation in the health and welfare planning processes, and sharing their data. ANIPLAN project was a part of the CORE Organic ERA-net. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the national funding bodies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Organic Agriculture, Farm Animal Behaviour and Husbandry Section, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    Silvia Ivemeyer

  2. Farm Animal Health and Production Group, The Royal Veterinary College, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, UK

    Nick J. Bell

  3. Thuenen-Institute of Organic Farming (TI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Trenthorst 32, 23847, Westerau, Germany

    Jan Brinkmann & Solveig March

  4. Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Division of Livestock Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    Kornel Cimer, Elisabeth Gratzer, Christine Leeb & Christoph Winckler

  5. Norwegian Veterinary Institute, P.O. Box 750, Sentrum, 0106, Oslo, Norway

    Cecilie Mejdell

  6. Organic Studies Centre, Duchy College, Rosewarne, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 0AB, UK

    Stephen Roderick

  7. Livestock Research, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands

    Gidi Smolders

  8. Department of Livestock Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse, 5070, Frick, Switzerland

    Silvia Ivemeyer & Michael Walkenhorst

  9. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus, P.O. Box 50, 8830, Tjele, Denmark

    Mette Vaarst

Authors
  1. Silvia Ivemeyer
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  2. Nick J. Bell
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  3. Jan Brinkmann
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  4. Kornel Cimer
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  5. Elisabeth Gratzer
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  6. Christine Leeb
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  7. Solveig March
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  8. Cecilie Mejdell
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  9. Stephen Roderick
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  10. Gidi Smolders
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  11. Michael Walkenhorst
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  12. Christoph Winckler
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  13. Mette Vaarst
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Correspondence to Silvia Ivemeyer.

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Ivemeyer, S., Bell, N.J., Brinkmann, J. et al. Farmers taking responsibility for herd health development—stable schools in research and advisory activities as a tool for dairy health and welfare planning in Europe. Org. Agr. 5, 135–141 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-015-0101-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-015-0101-y

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