In changing global scenario shift towards organic livestock farming is need of the hour Prepared under the guidance of Dr. S.A.Hamdani

1. Organic Livestock Farming:
Opportunities and Challenges Ahead
Division of Veterinary and A.H. Extension
Masters seminar
Presented by:
Dr. Sheikh Shubeena
Research scholar , SKUAST-Kashmir

2. Introduction
“Organic”
 Organic term reflects something very close
to nature, ethics and tradition in general
 Involves principles that generate produce of
high quality
 Coherent with environment in particular
(Sharma & Sharma,2010)

3. Organic Farming
Organic farming is a holistic production
management system which promotes and
enhances agro-ecosystem health including
Biodiversity
Biological
cycles
Soil
biological
activity

4. Organic Livestock Farming
Promotes the use of organic and bio-degradable inputs from the ecosystem in
terms of
 Animal nutrition (organically grown, good quality food & species specific
diets)
 Animal health (good management, prevention & stress free env.)
 Animal housing and breeding ( animals not to be caged, tethered or
confined in buildings, clean bedding, natural light, adaptable breeds chosen)
Avoids use of synthetic inputs like drugs, feed additives and genetically
engineered breeding inputs.
(Chander et al. 2010)

5. Principles of Organic Livestock Farming
Land based
activity
Good animal
health and
welfare
Optimization
rather than
maximization
of production
Lower
stocking
densities
( FAO,1999)

6. Ideal Organic Livestock Farm
Geographical
location
Access to shelter
and water
resources
Mix of grass land,
cereal crops and
other arable crops
Separate calving
and lambing pens
Self contained
flock/herd
Mix of livestock
species
Good nutrition
supply and fiber
to ruminants
Good livestock
infrastructure
Trained and
experienced
stockman

7. Why Organic?

8. Organic
production
Consumer
benefits
Producer
benefits
Environmental
benefits
Economic &
social
benefits

9. Consumer Benefits
 Food safety and public health issues: e.g. BSE and CJD outbreak,
Use of dioxin in feed & Growth hormones
 Poison /Chemical residue free produce: as there is no use of
synthetic inputs in terms of allopathic drugs, fertilizers, herbicides &
pesticides
 Less antibiotic resistant bacteria: via minimum use of antibiotics ,
e.g. E. coli 157:H7 infection
( Pathak et. al., 2002)
 Better taste and longer shelf life: with low level of nitrates, higher
amount of antioxidants.
(The Organic Centre, 2012)

10. Producer Benefits
 Lower input costs: depends least on off farm inputs, feed & manure
from farm itself.
 Disease and drought resistance species: more use of plants and
animals that are better adaptable to changing climatic conditions
and existing disease threats.
 Added value: as the health conscious and more aware consumers
are ready to pay higher prices for organic.
(Chander et .al., 2010)
 Better health & productivity: reports of decreased disease related
issues, increased reproductive performances & less production
diseases.

11. Mean Incidence of some Animal Health Disorders
Parameters Organic Conventional
Milk fever 4.7 4.5
Mastitis 9.1* 14.7
Trodden teat 0.3* 1.8
Retained placenta 0.1* 2.3
Ketosis 0.1 1.74
Hoof disorders 1.1 1.4
All disorders 20.6** 33.1
(Hamilton, 2001)

12. Reproductive Performance
Parameters 1994 1995 1996
Org Conv Org Conv Org Conv
Calving interval
(d)
378 377 376 375 369* 374
Calving to Ist AI
interval (d)
77 80 82 79 78 80
Calving to last AI
interval (d)
95 99 100 96 98 98
AI per cow 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.6
Breeding in
summer (%)
58* 38 59* 42 52* 36
(Reksen et.al.,1999 )

13. Veterinary Treatments
Parameters Organic Conven.
Retained placenta
(% of calvings)
6.3 10.7*
Ketosis (% of
calvings)
0.3 2.1*
Mastitis treatments
per cow per year
0.46 0.59
(Bennedsgaard et. al., 2003)

14. Environmental Benefits
 Soil conservation: more organic content in soil, maintains soil cover,
prevents soil erosion
 Water pollution: less use of synthetic substances and chemicals &
less leakage of these substances to water
 Climate friendly: less emission of GHG’s like Carbon dioxide, Nitrous
oxide and methane
 Nature protection and biodiversity conservation: for success against
crop failures organic farming relays on biodiversity.
 No genetically modified organisms : GMO de-emphasize biodiversity,
causes un-natural addition to genetic pool of plants and animals
(FAO 2012)

15. Social and Economic Benefits
 Employment opportunities: 10-20% more labor needed in
Organic Farming.
 Labor welfare: livable wages, safe and healthy working
conditions.
 Food security: rural farmers can became self sufficient as
organic farming requires less inputs.
(FAO,2012)
 Animal welfare: Animal welfare is an important issue in
organic livestock farming.

16. Organic Livestock and Animal Welfare
Welfare not only means absence of animals
sufferings but should include:
1) Greatest possible accord between innate
nature of animal and conditions provided
2) Opportunity to express natural, species
specific behavior that increases quality of
life
3) Nature and integrity respected in breeding
and reproduction as well
(Alroe et al., 2001)

17. Organic Livestock Farming Standards
• Organic production governed by set of standards,
compliance with standards is verified by certification.
• 486 organizations offer organic certification services mostly
from Europe(37%), Asia(31%) and N. America(17%)
( Chander.et.al.,2010)
• In India APEDA (Agricultural Products Export Development
Agency) & NSOP (National Standards of Organic Products)
etc . are major certifying agencies.

18. National Programme on Organic
Production (NPOP)
• NPOP was launched in 2000 by GOI under FTDR Act.
• NPOP provides instructional mechanism for the
implementation of national standards for organic
production.
• Standards are in harmony with international standards
(Codex & IFOAM)
(NPOP, 2005)

19. Regulations and Key Considerations
 Animal management
 Conversion periods
 Animal origin
 Breeds and breeding
 Animal nutrition
 Veterinary medicine
 Mutilations
(NPOP 2005 / FOAM 2009)

20. Animal Management
General principles
 Harmonious relationship between land, plants and
livestock
 Respect for physiological and behavioral needs of
animals
 Feeding of good quality organically grown feed stuffs
 Sufficient free movement, fresh air, water, feed and
natural daylight
 Access to pastures and to areas that will provide
shelter and protection from temp., rain etc

21. Conversion Periods
 Conversion periods: An interim period that is required by a farm (
plants & animals) to change from conventional to organic production.
 Principle: change from conventional to organic production requires a
conventional period to develop natural behavior, immunity and
metabolic functions
 Primary focus is to establish crop rotations ensuring soil fertility &
animals are fed organic rations

22. Cont.
 Animal product can be sold as ‘ORGANIC’ only when
animals and land have met all the appropriate
established conversion requirements
 Based on certification of conversion period a farm can
be in fully organic or in ‘ split production’
 Conversion of existing farms into organic requires the
conversion period as per the purpose of rearing as :
• Meat=12 months
• Dairy= 90 days
• Eggs = 42 days

23. Animal Sources / Origin
Standards
 Animals should be raised organically from last trimester of
pregnancy / from birth
 Conventional animals can be brought into Organic only when
they have attained the age as:
2 day old chicks (for meat production)
18 week old hens (for egg production)
4 weeks age dairy calves that have received colostrum & fed
diet consisting of full milk

24. Breeds and Breeding
General Principles
 Breeds chosen should be adaptable to local conditions
 Breeding goals should not to be in opposition to animal's
natural behaviour and directed towards its good health
 Criteria at the time of breeding
a) Race and stock of animal
b) Vitality and resistance to diseases
c) Breeds that can copulate and give birth naturally
 Procedures that are not allowed
Embryo transfer techniques
Hormonal heat treatment &Induced birth
Genetically engineered species or breeds.
 However AI is allowed

25. Animal Nutrition
 Animal should be fed a diet appropriate to its species(e.g 60%
roughage in ruminant diet)
 Feed to be grown from the holding I.e. grown at same farm( at
least 50%)
 In case of inadequate feed at farm then feed to be taken from
conventional farm with:
Not more than 10% of feed in ruminants &
15% of feed in non ruminants
 Rest feed can be taken from:
In- conversion sources( that are in process of conversion) 30%
From certified organic sources

26. Prohibited items in diet
 Farm animal by- products
 Slaughter products to same species
 Excrements like droppings, dung etc
 Addition of chemical agents, amino acid isolates, Urea,
synthetic growth promoters/ stimulants/appetizers,
artificial colouring agents

27. Veterinary Medicine
Recommendations
Adapt preventive techniques
Use natural medicines and treatments ( ayurvedic, homeopathy &
acupuncture) but these treatments are used only when their effect is proven
for the breed and species we are treating
 when there is suffering to animal the vet. Drugs are to be used even if
animal looses its organic status
e.g (if treated with 3 disease cases within a year)….animal loses its organic
status

28. Cont.
 Use of drugs permitted under conditions
IFOAM,2009
Preventive and
alternative
practices became
in- effective
Withdrawal
period 2 times
the
conventional
period
Used under
supervision of
veterinarian

29. Use of Vaccines
 Preventive vaccination is not allowed
 vaccines are allowed only in below conditions:
 when there is presence of a epidemic disease that
can’t be controlled by managemental practices
 when legally required
 Genetically engineered vaccines are not allowed

30. Mutilations
Principles
 Respect animals distinctive characters
 Select species that don’t require mutilation
 Surgical treatments only used for reasons of safety, mitigations of suffering
and the health and welfare
 Mutilations are prohabited but to minimize animal suffering following
mutilations are allowed anesthesia used when appropriate
• Docking of lambs
• Dehorning
• De-beaking
• Mulesing
( IFOAM, 2009)

31. Organic Markets

32. Organic Market Growth
 Global organic market size is 72 billion US dollars (5 fold increase from
1999) .
 11.5% organic market growth was seen with 24.3 billion euros in
U.S(leading organic market) followed by Germany (7.6 billion euros, France
(4.4 billion euros),China (2.4 billion euros)
( FiBL- IFOAM study, 2015)
 In USA organic meat and meat products 6th fast growing commodity
group,
 In Australia 96% of all organic farms raise livestock of some kind (87%
cattle, 49% pigs,51% poultary)
( Elder et.al 2000 )

33. Organic Land
 Global Organic farmland area is 43.1 million hectares( 11million
hectares in 1999)
 Global organic agricultural land
Oceania (17.3 million hectares, 40%) followed by Europe (11.5
million hectares; 27%),Latin America (6.6 million hectares; 15%)
 Australia is country with largest organic agricultural area, 58%
growth showed between 2011-2014 .
(FiBL-IFOAM study, 2015)

35. Global Organic Meat and Dairy Market
 Above average growth in the sales of organic dairy and
organic meat products products in the year 2007-08
 The latent demand for organic dairy foods and drinks was
estimated at US$ 6.6 billion in 2009 & project demand was
supposed to reach US$ 9.5 billion in 2014
 Demand for organic meat and meat products was estimated
US$ 6.9 billion & project demand was supposed to reach US$
9.9 billion in 2014
( Australia organic 2014)
 Beef has been the fastest growing sector in terms of sales,
making up over half of the total organic meat market
(Organic Monitor)

36. Organic Farming and India
o Traditional practices in India prior to 20th century were organic
o During 1960’s there was increase in population and occurance of natural
calamities that took our attention towards use of chemical fertilizers etc.
o India is having 44,926 certified organic farms, 528,171 hectares(0.3% of
total agricultural land) are under organic farming, & India is largest
organic producers.
( Panday and Singh, 2012)
o Appreciable developements has been made in organic crop sector
exporting organic tea, fruits, vegetables, coffee and honey etc. but very
few developments in organic livestock sector
( ITC, 1999)

37. Organic Growth in India
o In India, Uttarakhand is the pioneering state in organic agriculture,
since it is the 1st state declared as organic.
(Subrahmanyeswari , 2007)
o India’s organic exports almost tripled in value in yr 2011-12 from
70,000metric tones in 2010-11 to 115,000 mt in 2011-2012
(APEDA)
o Development of a promising backyard poultry variety ‘Rajasri’ at
poultry research station of SPVNRTSUVAS, rajinderanagar
Hyderabad would be rosy with concept of organic farming
(THE HINDU,5102015)

38. Opportunities for Growth of Organic
Livestock in India
• Excellent breeds of livestock having below
characteristics :
Well suited to changing climatic conditions
Resistant to most of diseases
Thrive well on crop residues
• Our traditional practices are having close resemblence
to organic practices
• Indegenious traditional knowledge is available to our
farmers
• Crop-livestock integrated farming is more common in
our country
( Chander et. al., 2010)

39. Opportunities for Export of Organic
Livestock Products
• Demand for organic livestock is growing in developed (USA,
EU, Japan) & developing countries also people ready to pay
higher prices
• In 2001 16% of broiler meat and 40% of beef imported to
UK from developing countries like Brazil and Argentania
• Non-food livestock products like hides, leather & wool offer
hope for organic livestock production in India
( Chander et al . 2010)

40. Challenges in Adapting Organic Farming
• Access to certification
• Lack of knowledge about RMPs
• Lack of indigenious lucrative market
• Small and poor farmers unable to stand economic and productivity
fluctuations during conversion period.
( Panday and Ashima ,2012)
• low level of information, inadequate feed and fodder production.
( Pathak et. al. ,2002)

41. Challenges in Export of Organic Livestock
Products from India
 Little risk bearing ability : Resourcelessness in small scale farmers
 Self-sufficiency in developed countries: Reduces import demand
 Sanitary regulations: In organic case sanitary regulations are strictly
monitored
 Traceability & small farms: In india milk and meat sourced from
numerous small farmers
 Existance of disease: Prevalence of infectious and zoonotic diseases.
E.g FMD
(Chander et. al., 2010)

42. Policy initiatives to be taken
 Improvisation of organic standards according to agro-climatic conditions
 Development of regional standards to promote organic production within
region
 Establishment of low cost certification agency that can be affordable to
poor farmers
 Development strong domestic market to protect the benefits of producers
 Research and development is needed to apply modern knowledge, improve
performance & start research programmes with farmers
 Training and extension should be provided to all catagories of
stakeholders
 Govt. have to make legislation where all stake holders can pay a fair level
ground
( Pathak et. al. ,2002)

43. National Project on Organic
Farming(NPOF)
• A pilot project by GOI during 10th 5yr plan, effect from 01.10.2004
Objectives
 Encourage and promote development of organic agriculture.
 Encourage use of organic and biological sources of nutrients.
 Define standards for unregulated organic and biological inputs.
 Initiate research on validation of established indigenous practices.
 Initiate studies on biological soil health assessment.
 Technical support to existing certification system.

44. Concerns in Organic Livestock Farming
 Circulation of disease organisms within farm
 Susceptibility to outdoor infections
 Homeopathy does not have any demonstrated efficacy in managing
helminths & use of herbs is still in infancy
 Risks of contracting paratuberculosis are higher on organic farms
 Lack of good Veterinary and A.H. advisors familiar with organic
principles
 Stocks person / attendants usually inadequately educated result in
disease occurance and poor hygiene
( Varast. et.al.,2008)

45. Conclusions
• Organic farming is not only profitable for farmers but has benefits
for consumers, environment and to society also
• During conversion period there may be less production but in long
run it is only way to be sustainable , and to get healthy and poison
free food
• The trend of adopting Organic livestock foods is increasing both in
developed and developing countries due to increased awareness
and health conciousness of people
• Organic farming is a best way to make our farmers self sufficient
and saves them from drowning in debts and from attempting
suicides

46. Cont.
• ‘GROWTH CENTERS’ have to be identified, nodal agencies should be
established to provide technical support to farmers, and to make
arrangements for certification and help in marketing
• High priority should be for control of prevailing zoonotic and OIE-
listed diseases like FMD to overcome trade barriers, initiatives are
to be made to create disease free zones
• More research is needed to be done on :
1) Effects of alternative treatments as long as these treatments are
not formally proven to be effective
2) No use of vaccines in diseases that can cause sudden outbreaks
3) Prohabition on use of synthetic amino acids in poultry whose
natural sources are not fully known

47. Cont.
• 90% of problems in organic livestock
farming are managemental rather than
technological, so need is improve these
practices by keeping experienced stocks
man, consultation from experienced
persons knowing about organic principles