Organic livestock husbandry and breeding - Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective - page 151

Chapter 6
Organic liestock husbandry and breeding
Bernhard Hörning*, University of Applied Sciences, Germany
*Dr Bernhard Hörning, Studiengang Ökolandbau und Vermarktung, University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde,
Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 28, Eberswalde 16225, Germany. Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone],
Email: [e-mail]
Introduction
The aims of this chapter are to give a short overview about organic animal husbandry in
general and to discuss problems of organic animal housing and breeding in more detail.
Animal husbandry could be regarded as the complete field of animal farming. In a narrower
sense, housing of animals is considered.
Publications about organic animal husbandry in peer-reviewed journals are relatively
scarce. According to Nicholas et al . (2004), from 472 refereed publications identified in 1981 to
2000, only 9% were on animal related topics. Lund and Algers (2001) found only 22 papers
about health and welfare in the ten years from 1991. Furthermore, sample sizes included were
often relatively small and comparisons with conventional farms have not always been done
according to these authors.
Scientific literature about organic animal husbandry is generated almost completely from
Europe (mainly United Kingdom, UK, and Scandinavia) or North America. Many agricultural
systems in developing countries are often organic as a consequence of limited resources and
availability of modern technologies. However, information about such systems is not included
in this review because of lack of clear definitions. Certified organic production in developing
countries is mostly export oriented, and mainly includes products from plant origin (e.g.
coffee, tea, cacao, oil, citrus fruits, bananas, tropical fruits, spices) (Willer and Yussefi 2004).
Organic livestock production is still a relatively new concept in Asia; however, some Latin
American countries are starting to export organic meat products (Pathak et al . 2003). The
main part of organic agriculture in Australia, however, is based on extensive grazing areas.
The same is true for Argentina (Willer and Yussefi 2004). In 14 out of 16 European countries,
livestock products were within the top five organic products (Hermansen 2003).
The European Union (EU)-funded Network on Animal Health and Welfare in Organic
Agriculture (NAHWOA) held five workshops between 1999 and 2001 concerning topics like
diversity of livestock systems, human-animal relationships, feeding and breeding, health
management, and have published final conclusions and recommendations (www.veeru.
reading.ac.uk/organic). A further activity of the network was the publication of a scientific
topic Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Agriculture (Vaarst et al . 2004). Another EU funded
Concerted Action Project is Sustaining Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming
(SAFO) (www.safonetwork.org) with a focus at food quality. As in the NAHWOA network, the
main activity is scientific exchange, assisted by five workshops held between 2003 and 2005.
Further conferences have been held in Europe on some topics of organic livestock farming (e.g.
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