Behavior of the productive, reproductive and metabolic parameters of meat cows with an organic management. Technical note (original) (raw)
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The overall aim of the present study was to analyse and compare organic beef cattle farming in Spain with intensive and conventional systems. An on-farm study comparing farm management practices and animal health was carried out. The study also focussed on a slaughterhouse analysis by comparing impacts on the safety and quality of the cattle products. Twenty-four organic and 26 conventional farms were inspected, and farmers responded to a questionnaire that covered all basic data on their husbandry practices, farm management, veterinary treatments and reproductive performance during 2007. Furthermore, data on the hygiene and quality of 244, 2596 and 3021 carcasses of calves from organic, intensive and conventional farms, respectively, were retrieved from the official yearbook (2007) of a slaughterhouse. Differences found between organic and conventional farms across the farm analysis did not substantially reflect differences between both farm types in the predominant diseases that u...
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The energy supplied by the high-forage diets used in organic farming may be insufficient to meet the requirements of dairy cattle. However, few studies have considered this problem. The present study aimed to analyze the composition of the diets and the nutritional status (focusing on the energy–protein balance of the diets) of dairy cattle reared on organic farms in northern Spain, which are similar to other organic farming systems in temperate regions. Exhaustive information about diets was obtained from organic (ORG) and representative conventional grazing (GRZ) and conventional no-grazing (CNG) farms. Samples of feed from the respective farms were analyzed to determine the composition. Overall, the diets used on the ORG farms were very different from those used on the CNG farms, although the difference was not as evident for GRZ. The CNG farms were characterized by a higher total dry matter intake with a high proportion of concentrate feed, maize silage and forage silage. By con...
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Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia, 2011
This work evaluated the reproductive performance of first-calf cows at three years of age, submitted or not to protein supplementation at yearling on natural pastures. After calving, cows were managed on natural or improved pastures. The feeding managements were the following: on natural pastures as yearlings and during pregnancy, post-calving period and breeding season; on natural pastures with protein supplement as yearlings and only natural pasture during pregnancy, post-calving and breeding season; on natural pastures as yearlings and during pregnancy and on improved natural pastures (Lolium multiflorum L., Trifolium repens cv. Yi and Lotus corniculatus cv. São Gabriel) during the post-calving period and breeding season; on natural pastures with protein supplement at yearling, on natural pastures during pregnancy, and on improved natural pasture during post-calving period and breeding season. Cows did not differ on body weight, but from calving to the beginning of breeding season, cows on improved natural pastures presented higher weight gain than those on natural pastures (0.203 vs. 0.109 kg/day). Cows in post-calving on natural pastures lost 1.0 point of body condition score during mating, determinant of the lowest pregnancy rate and later conception in relation to cows on improved natural pasture. Pregnant cows presented higher body weight (440 vs. 413 kg) and body condition score (4.14 vs. 3.66 points) than open cows at the end of the breeding season.
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Supplemental Material, Table_S2 for Technical and environmental characterization of Colombian beef cattle-fattening farms, with a focus on farm size and ways of improving production by Ricardo González-Quintero, María Solange Sánchez-Pinzón, Diana María Bolívar-Vergara, Ngonidzashe Chirinda, Jacobo Arango, Heiber Alexander Pantévez, Guillermo Correa-Londoño and Rolando Barahona-Rosales in Outlook on Agriculture
2009
The objective of this study was to analyse how beef-cattle farming in NW Spain on organic farms compares with intensive and conventional systems in terms of impacts on the safety and quality of cattle products. Data on the hygiene and quality of 244, 2596 and 3021 carcasses of calves from organic, intensive and conventional farms, respectively, were collected at the slaughterhouse. Organic calves generally had fewer condemnations for liver, kidney and heart pathologies. Liver parasitic infections were 2 fold higher in organic calves than those from other types of farm. Farm processes and resultant food product quality are linked through the health of the animal and its disease status. Overall better health status was not reflected by carcass performance as this was significantly lower for organic calves than for calves from conventional and intensive farms. Carcass performance seemed to be more determined by dietary component than by health status in the animals in our study.