Major organic dairy farm types in Germany and their farm, herd, and management characteristics

Characteristics of organic dairy major farm types in seven European countries

“…These countries are situated in a region of Europe that has both lowland and mountain dairy systems. Nevertheless, in Germany, the most extreme differences between MFTs were constituted not only by topography (lowlands in the north and mountainous in the south), but more regarding production intensity (partly within the same regions; Ivemeyer et al 2017). According to Stuaro et al (2009), in recent decades, the number of traditional extensive farming units has decreased in favour of highly mechanised and intensive production practices and this decrease has been particularly dramatic for the traditional extensive livestock farms of the Alpine region.…”

“…These differences arise within individual countries (e.g. Ivemeyer et al 2017), but can be expected to be of even greater magnitude between European countries. Thus, there is not one, but many, organic dairy production systems in Europe.…”

Comparison of performance and fitness traits in German Angler, Swedish Red and Swedish Polled with Holstein dairy cattle breeds under organic production

“…All seven German organic farms, milking at least three AAZ cows and taking part in official milk recording from the list of AAZ breeders (http://www.anglerrind-az.de), joined the study. To prevent bias due to management practice, 14 HO farms, classified as having either medium-scale herds of 36-70 cows with low to medium yearly milk yield of ≤7000 kg/year, typically with loose housing systems and mostly located in the eastern part of Germany (major farm type 'A'), or small-scale herds equal to or less than 35 cows with low yearly milk yield of ≤5900 kg/year, typically with straw yard stable and mostly located in the western parts of Germany (major farm type 'B') following the classification method described by Ivemeyer et al (2018), were selected for this study. Concentrate feeding level was 837 (±329) and 710 (±495) kg/cow and year for major farm types 'A' and 'B', respectively.…”

“…Ahlman et al, 2014). Nevertheless, several studies reveal that the choice of dairy breeds on European organic farms does not substantially differ from conventional farms, Holstein Friesian (HO) cattle with a high genetic merit for milk production being widespread (Marley et al (2010) for the United Kingdom; Ivemeyer et al (2018) for Germany; Krieger et al (2017) for Germany, France, Spain and Sweden); while others indicate that local breeds and crossbreeding strategies might be more common under organic farming conditions (e.g. Sundberg et al (2009) for Sweden).…”

Structural characteristics of organic dairy farms in four European countries and their association with the implementation of animal health plans

“…There is very little information available on the extent of variation in these factors across the organic dairy sector in Europe, and only three studies generate descriptions of the structure and management approaches of national organic dairy sectors (Perea et al, 2010;Ivemeyer et al, 2017;Wallenbeck et al, 2018). However, few studies have been identified that attempt to systematize the observed variation in these sectors, either using clustering or other approaches, especially at a cross-country scale.…”