Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
A further dilemma is that of organic animal welfare and food safety, since outdoor rearing
also increases the likelihood of problems with zoonotic parasites such as
Salmonella
and
Campylobacter
. These are not welfare problems for the animals, but may cause health problems
for humans who eat animal products.
Improved management, breeding and system development can overcome many of the
problems connected with natural living, and while these problems ref lect differences in underly-
ing value systems it is important for the organic movement to recognise that natural living and
organic feed of themselves are not enough to guarantee the welfare of the individual animal.
Welfare effects of organic feed
The organic requirement to feed roughage to all species is generally beneficial for the animals.
This is particularly true for ruminants and also for pigs and poultry, for which it functions as
'behavioural therapy' and provides a fibre supplement in the diet, stimulating digestion.
Roughage in pig diets can decrease the risk of infection with detrimental bacteria such as dys-
entery (
Shigella
spp.), but it may also increase the occurrence of certain parasites (nematodes)
(Petkevicius
et
al
. 1999).
There have been concerns that the lower intensity feeding due to limited concentrate feeding
would result in diseases such as milk fever in dairy cows. However, these worries have not been
confirmed. On the contrary, organic dairy cows appear to have fewer problems with metabolic
diseases than conventional cows (Lund and Algers 2003). In poultry, there is a problem of how
to provide high-producing poultry with enough methionine and to some extent lysine (to
growing animals), particularly in regions where the climate prohibits soybean growth. The
problem has arisen as both IFOAM and EU standards have banned synthetic amino acids in the
feed and have limited the use of products of animal origin (naturally part of poultry diets), and
are moving towards requiring 100% organic feed. Whether feed enrichment with synthetic
amino acids (corresponding to adding vitamins to the feed) is the best solution to the problem
is a debateable and complex issue that cannot be fully discussed here. From a welfare perspec-
tive, it appears an acceptable solution, considering that the alternative is usually either defi-
ciency or overfeeding with protein. In particular, the first option imposes considerable stress on
the animal and increases the risk of feather pecking (e.g. Wahlström
et
al
. 1998).
In some countries (particularly those where organic farms are relatively few) only limited
amounts of organic feed are available. This may create welfare problems, since it becomes dif-
ficult and expensive for farmers to supplement poor harvests with purchased feed. The alter-
native, to buy conventional feed, is also expensive since the animals then must go through a
new conversion period before the products can be sold as organic.
Research results regarding welfare in organic systems
There is limited scientific knowledge about animal welfare in organic herds. The few published
studies deal with health only and not welfare in general. Most of the published studies are con-
cerned with dairy production, rather than more intensive productions systems of pigs and
poultry, where the differences between organic and conventional systems are greatest. Gener-
ally, these studies indicate that animal health in organic herds is the same as or better than in
conventional herds, except for parasite-related diseases, which are more frequent in organic
farming (Lund and Algers 2003). This suggests that the criticism of organic farming and
problems related to parasite infections may be justified. Apparently the control of internal as
well as external parasites is an area where organic farming has not yet managed to develop
good alternatives to conventional treatments. The animal welfare effects of these parasitic
infestations, at least for pigs and poultry (S.M. Thamsborg, pers. comm., 2005), are difficult to
judge, but parasite infestation must be regarded as a risk factor for animal welfare, even when
no symptoms are apparent.
