Congress Topic 3:

Animal husbandry - health, welfare and food quality

The topic will consist of sessions on organic livestock farming, including animal health and welfare. Furthermore, there will be sessions on food quality and food safety together with socio-economic aspects of organic animal production.

The topic is organized by the EU research projects QLIF and SAFO. Topic coordinators are Hans Spoolder, Mette Vaarst and Susanne Padel.

The topic consists of three themes (7, 8, 9):

• Development of livestock production systems
• Animal health and disease handling
• Organic animal products quality and safety

Coordinators of the three themes, as described below, are Hans Spoolder, Mette Vaarst and Susanne Padel.

Potential contributors to the individual themes (either oral or poster presentations) should look at the full descriptions offered through the links entitled 'More'.

Deadline for submission of papers is March 1st, but a short submission form should kindly be filled out before February 15th (see Congess website).

		Development of livestock production systems Contributions will be presented that document sound organic livestock production systems under the many challenging conditions in EU, such as small ruminant systems in mountain areas, common grazing systems, and intensive or extensive systems for all species. More...
Spoolder
		Animal health and disease handling Assessment of organic animal production at the farm level suggests that health and welfare does not necessarily fulfil at all times the high expectations. Improvements may be achieved by assessment of diseases risks, preventive and treatment strategies, and health planning. More...
Vaarst
		Organic animal products: quality and safety Allowing livestock access to the outdoors is a fundamental principle of organic production, considering the animals natural behaviour and offering health benefits. However, this exposes animals to the risk of contaminates and wildlife vectors and zoonotic diseases. More...
Padel