ProYoungStock – Promoting young stock and cow health and welfare by natural feeding systems.
Leader: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Svizzera, www.fibl.org, Contact: Dr. Anet Spengler and M.Sc. Anna Bieber
- University of Kassel, Germania, www.uni-kassel.de, Contact: Prof. Dr. Ute Knierim and Dr. Silvia Ivemeyer
- Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Polonia, www.ighz.edu.pl, Contact: Dr. hab. Tomasz Sakowski
- Slovenian Holstein Association, Slovenia, www.holstein.si, Contact: Dr. Marija Klopčič
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Svezia, www.slu.se, Contact: Dr. Karin Alvåsen and Prof. Dr. Nils Fall
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria, www.boku.ac.at, Contact: Prof. Dr. Christoph Winckler and PD Dr. Birgit Fürst-Waltl
- Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Francia, Umrh-bioinfo.clermont.inra.fr, Contact: Dr. Bruno Martin
- Università di Catania, Italia, www.di3a.unict.it, Contact: Prof. Dr. Alessandro Priolo, in collaborazione con CoRFiLaC, Contact: Dr. Margherita Caccamo
Period: 2018-2021
Currently: work in progress
The project aims to collect, develop and evaluate natural nutrition strategies to improve the well-being of dairy farms, including health aspects in different European agro-ecological and regulatory contexts. To achieve this goal it will be necessary to improve the breeding of pre-weaning calves and to design feeding strategies based on fodder for heifers and cows. This might be done both by stimulating the immune status of the animal and by reducing the use of antibiotics and anthelmintics without negative impact on animals performance and business economy.
The project will check the following hypotheses:
1) calves for stock replacement and fattening benefit from higher quantities of milk, better quality of colostrum and /or of the the cow-calf contact in terms of welfare and productive performance.
2) Different extensive grazing and forage systems for young livestock and alternative green forage/feed supplements have a positive impact on older age performance and longevity of animals.
Struttura Progetto
Work package 1
Rearing of youngstock allowing cow-calf contact: on-farm strategies, legislation, and economic aspects
Task 1.1: Identification of innovative breeding systems for young cattle
Task 1.2: Comparison between current regulations in the different countries
Task 1.3: Economic consequences of different natural calf breeding strategies
Work package 2
Innovative methods for dairy calf rearing focusing on boosting the immune system
Task 2.1: Dairy calf rearing methods that involve cow-calf contact
Task 2.2: Antibodies in lactating cow’s milk and development of the intestinal microbiome of calves
Task 2.3: Use of the sapphire flax seed variety as a supplement in cow feeding rations to improve colostrum quality and calves health
Work package 3
Optimizing dairy calf rearing through enhanced milk feeding and calf fattening on dairy farms with the help of dams – effects on welfare including health
Task 3.1: Impact of increased milk feeding on the health and well-being of breeding calves
Task 3.2: Impact of nurse-breeding on on health and well-being, meat quality and economic performance of calves on dairy farms
Work package 4
Impact of roughage feeding and pasture strategies on health traits of heifers and cows
Task 4.1: Impact of grazing extensive pasture during del pascolamento estensivo during the raising of heifers
Task 4.2: Effect of silage feed omission on health of young cattle and dairy cows as well as on production performance
Work package 5
Feeding plants containing bioactive compounds
Task 5.1: Sources identificazion of bioactive compouds
Task 5.2: Effect of bioactive compounds present in plants on productivity and animal health
Task 5.3: Effect of bioactive compounds present in plants on proteins digestibility and on the immune response of dairy cows
Work package 6
Project coordination and dissemination
Programma e Finanziamento
Program Funding: CORE Organic Cofund 2016-2017
Funding : CORE Organic Cofund, partners di Horizon 2020 ERA-Net project CORE Organic Cofund
OFFICIAL WEB-SITE: www.proyoungstock.net
Free download Italin Guide
Here available the project guide describing the natural relatioship between the cow and the calf and drawing conclusions for calf rearings suitable to species. Among the various methods of breedings concerning cow-calf or nurse-calf systems in the guide are proposed 10 different methods selected by using practical examples.
Allattamento naturale dei vitelli con la madre o una balia negli allevamenti di bovini da latte
