Project: Planning for better animal health and welfare
Livestock is important in many organic farming systems, and it is an explicit goal to ensure high levels of animal health and welfare (AHW) through good management. This will lead to reduced medicine use and better quality of animal products. In two EU network projects NAHWOA & SAFO it was concluded that this is not guaranteed merely by following organic standards. Both networks recommended implementation of individual animal health plans to stimulate organic farmers to improve AHW. These plans should include a systematic evaluation of AHW and be implemented through dialogue with each farmer in order to identify goals and plan improvements. 15 research institutions in 8 European countries are involved in the proposed project with the main objective to minimise medicine use in organic dairy herds through active and well planned AHW promotion and disease prevention. The project consists of 5 work packages, 4 of which comprise research activities building on current research projects, new applications across borders, exchange of knowledge, results and conclusions between participating countries, and adopting them to widely different contexts. International and national workshops facilitate this exchange. Focus areas are animal health planning, AHW assessment using animal based parameters and development of advisory systems and farmer groups. Epidemiological analyses of the effect on AHW from reduced medicine use and herd improvements are planned in all participating countries.
| Acronym | ANIPLAN |
| Duration | 01/01/2007 - 31/10/2010 |
| Website | visit project website |
| Network | CORE Organic |
| Call | CORE-ORGANIC Pilot Call |
Project partner
| Number | Name | Role | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aarhus University - Faculty of Agricultural Sciences | Coordinator | Denmark | |
| Duchy College | United Kingdom | ||
| Georg-August-University Göttingen | Germany | ||
| Ministry of Agriculture and Food - Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research | Norway | ||
| Norwegian Veterinary Institute | Norway | ||
| Research Institute of Organic Agriculture | Austria | ||
| Research Institute of Organic Agriculture | Switzerland | ||
| University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna | Austria | ||
| University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna | Austria | ||
| University of Wales | United Kingdom | ||
| Wageningen University & Research | Netherlands |