Rearing calves with nurse cows: experiences of French organic dairy farmers (original) (raw)

Belluz, Mathilde and Hellec, Florence (2018) Rearing calves with nurse cows: experiences of French organic dairy farmers. INRA, INRA.

Summary in the original language of the document

Improving animal welfare on farms is currently a major issue, in response to expectations of citizens and
consumers. In organic farming, reflections are continuing on how to change livestock production practices to
allow animals to express their natural behaviour most fully. Calf rearing in dairy systems is a focus of
attention. At the moment, separating calves from their mothers remains the most common practice, but new
techniques that favour the maternal bond are appearing. Understanding these practices better to identify
conditions under which they can be adopted by more farmers was the goal of a survey conducted in spring
2018 of organic dairy farmers who rear calves with adult cows. This work has been made under the
GrazyDaiSy project, funded by the European Union program Core organic.