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Organic dairy farming produces milk to meet growing consumer demand for organic milk and dairy products.
The concept of organic production is very all-embracing: a whole system that optimizes sustainability and livestock welfare, integrating livestock production with growing food and feed crops.
For cows to produce “organic” milk, their feed ration, which includes pasture and forage, must be organically produced. Sustaining animal health in an organic dairy farming system requires establishing and maintaining standard preventive practices, including optimum nutrition, low stress living conditions, and a reasonable level of biosecurity.
An organic livestock operation must establish and maintain livestock living conditions which accommodate the health and natural behaviour of animals. This includes access to the outdoors, shade, shelter, exercise areas, fresh air and direct sunlight as suitable for the animal and its stage of production, the climate, and the environment. Cows being ruminants must have access to pasture. They need appropriate clean, dry bedding. Their shelter must be designed to allow for natural maintenance, normal cow comfort behaviour, and provide opportunity to exercise. The temperature in the barn must be at a suitable level, with good ventilation and air circulation; and care must be taken for safety and little risk of injury – all part of good livestock management.
A healthy organic system will be reflected in the economic and environmental sustainability of the operation.
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