Title: Organic livestock production and organic foods from animal origin
1Organic livestock production and organic foods
from animal origin
- Health and Animal Welfare issues
- Food Safety Issues
- Lina Koufokotsiou / Veterinarian
2Organic systems and rural development
- What is organic farming and food?
- Organic farming is a holistic approach to food
production, making use of crop rotation,
environmental management and a good animal
husbandry to control pests and diseases. - Processed organic foods are foods that are
produced organically and organic ingredients must
make up at least 95 of the food. - Does organic farming benefit rural development?
- organic farming on-farm processing direct
marketing short food supply chains rural
development????
3Anavra Magnisias
- Remote mountain village (1.000 m height)
- Development pillars
- 3 livestock production parks
- Modern organic slaughter plant
- 1 wind-energy plant which generates a value of
100.000 euro/yr - Environmental Cultural Park
- Folk culture museum
- All day nursery and elementary school
- Rural medicine practice office
- Hostel for the teachers and doctors
4Organic livestock productionHealth and Welfare
- Overview of the important health and animal
welfare issues - The general aim of an organic livestock system
is to - Nurture positive health and vitality
- Ensure proper control of disease
- Encourage positive animal welfare
5Health and Welfare
- Organic beef and dairy cattle
- Choice of breed
- Dairy breeds (indigenous, Holstein, Friesian,
etc) - Beef breeds (traditional , early maturing breeds)
- Housing
- The housing system must provide a comfortable,
clean, well-drained and dry lying area. - It must also allow the animal to move freely
around without the risk of injury
6Organic beef and dairy cattle (1)
- Feeding
- Livestock must be fed on organically produced
feeding stuffs. - The feeding of young animals must be based on
natural milk, preferably maternal milk (3 months
for cattle). - Feeding stuffs must not have been produced with
the use of genetically modified organisms or
products derived therefrome.
7Organic beef and dairy cattle (2)
- Animal Health Plans
- Closed Herd Policy
- Organic herds are allowed to bring in breeding
animals(10 of herd size annually) - Herd Health Security
- All likely risk factors concerning the
introduction of contagious diseases from outside
the herd should be considered. - Disease reduction and control plan
- The plan should consider each identified disease
or syndrome and establish ways in which the
potential of identified risk factors can be
reduced or eliminated.
8Organic sheep production
- Use of Indigenous and Local Breeds
- More likely to utilize lower quality feed
- Being more resilient to climatic stress
- Being more resistant to local parasites and
diseases. - Selection for disease resistance
- there is a trade-off between resistance to
parasites and productivity.
9Organic Pig Production (1)
- Constraints in conversion of conventional
monogastric livestock systems into the organic
closed model - Are not land-based
- Are dependent on a high level of inputs from
outside the farm unit - Are characterized by high stocking densities per
unit both of land and of housing area - Are not designed to allow free-range conditions
- Are often dependent on high levels of routine
veterinary inputs
10Organic Pig Production (2)
- Organic standards
- Requiring late weaning of piglets
- Requiring free range conditions or housing with
access to outdoors and pasture - Requiring that outdoor areas must provide
conditions that meet the livestocks biological
and ethological needs - Limiting the type of mutilations allowed
- Requiring that appropriate breeds, suitable for
rearing conditions are used - Requiring minimum stocking densities in outdoor
areas to prevent poaching and overgrazing and
effectively reduce disease risk.
11Drazilovo FarmMetamorfosi Rodohori Naoussa
- Founded in 1996 at the north-eastern slide of
mountain Vermio. - From 2001 it has been advanced in the production
of organic pork meat.
12Drazilovo Farm
- Absolute freedom of movement and nutrition of
animals with fruits of forest, chestnuts,
mushrooms and various roots. - Prevention of illness is achieved by the use of
aromatic plants. - Creation of protective areas for the sows and the
piglets - Protection of animals from their natural enemies
and mostly from the man.
13Organic Poultry Production
- Health status of organic flocks
- The organic approach
- Restriction in the use of prophylactic medicines
- Consequences of being free-range
- organic systems are at greater risks
14Organic poultry production
- Feeding organic poultry
- Organic feed accounts for over 95 of the
variable costs of organic egg production. - Organic birds consume more feed at a lower feed
conversion ratio (FCR) - Food consumption to reach slaughter weight of
2,75 kg is approximately twice than needed to
fatten a conventional bird at 56 days.
15Food safety and nutrition issues
- Is organic food safer that other food?
- Both organic and conventional food have to meet
the same legal food safety requirements. - The safety and quality of food depends on the
care and controls throughout the food chain. - There can be good and bad practice in
conventional and organic production alike. - E.g. pesticides
- Authenticity is important for both producers and
consumers - At the moment the only way to tell you a food is
organic is the claim on the label. There no
specific tests to detect fraud. -
16Organic food products in Greece
- South of the city of Chios we find Kampos where
organic katsikisio mastelo is produced. - It is produced from pasteurized organic full-fat
goat milk. - The animals are kept in the mountain areas of
Chios and the production of organic milk is
certified by Bio-Hellas
17Bio network of Western Greece (1)
- Western Greece, also called the Natural Park of
Greece constitutes the region with the bigger
growth of Organic Agriculture. - In the rich natural environment of the region
organic producers combine organic culture of land
with the organic livestock production
18Bio network of Western Greece (2)Production of
Organic Feta
- The product is made from the milk of sheep and
goats which are organically reared free in
mountain areas of Western Greece. - They produce different types of Feta either
exclusively from sheep milk or a combination of
sheep (70) and goat (30) milk. - The product is salted with thick granules of pure
sea salt from Mesolongi lagoon. - The cheese is put in layers in wooden barrels in
order to mature.
19Creta FarmEn Elladi Organic Line
- Creta Farm is situated in the island of Crete and
is one of the leading companies in the deli meats
market - En Elladi Organic Line combines olive oil from
the island of Crete with meat of organically fed
animals. - The products are certified by DIO
20Alternative farming systemsAlternative marketing
and business practices
- Other farming systems or marketing and business
practices should be also considered. - THANK YOU.