Organic Dairy Farming and Milk Quality

Rick Kersbergen and Diane Schivera (MOFGA)

University of Maine Cooperative Extension

992 Waterville Rd

Waldo, Me 04915

207-342-5971

richardk@umext.maine.edu

Animal Science Professional Improvement Committee NACAA Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio. July 25, 2006

Organic Dairy Farming in New England

• Maine has 65 certified farms or about 20% of the herds (highest percentage in the nation)

• Vermont has about 110 certified farms• Processors include, -Organic Valley (CROPP) -Horizon Organic - H.P. Hood

So what does the organic dairy farm look like?

• Smaller farms (15- 150 cows)• Milk production is similar to other small

farms in Maine (Dalton, Bragg, Kersbergen)

• Pasture based?• Over $1000/cow for purchased

concentrate in 2004 (up to 48% of gross milk revenue)

• $04/cwt on medicines

Organic Milk Quality• “The UHT statement”..is it true?• What is life like on a dairy farm

without antibiotics? Is there a crash?

• How do producers manage health issues?

• Is organic “management by neglect”?

So what are some of the challenges of producing high quality organic milk?

-No use of antibiotics, including dry cow treatments

-No hormones (Lutylase, oxytocin)

-100% organic feed (grain and forages)

-Outside access (365) when possible

-Pasture requirement (NOSB)

-No milk replacer

-Various products such as Orbseal, Wipeouts etc, are not currently acceptable

So what does organic milk in Maine look like?

Somatic Cell Counts

275254 241

260

309283

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Maine Vt NH NY PA ME

ORG Hoard’s Dairyman September, 2005

Cells/ml, 1000’s

DHI records 2004 Organic data from monthly farm samples from the Maine Department of Agriculture

Average SCC (cells/ml, 1000’s) by Markets in Maine

283207

416313321

0

100

200

300

400

500

"A" "B" "C" "D" All

Organic

Farms

Averages from data collected 1/04-10/05

MDAFRR

Minimum of 25 farms in purchaser group

4 major conventional milk purchasers in Maine

Standard Plate Count for Maine Producers by Markets

14,419

29029

35536

65339340

05,000

10,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,000

"A" "B" "C" "D" All

Organic

Farms

SPC

(averages from

1/04-12/05)

4 major conventional milk purchasers in Maine

Organic Bulk Tank Samples (76 samples)

% of farms in each categoryNormal Moderate High

V.HighStaph aureus 63.16 19.74 7.89 9.21Step Ag 93.42 3.95 0 2.63

Coag Neg Staph 86.84 7.89 2.63 2.63Non-Strep ag 77.63 13.16 5.26 3.95Gram negatives 50.00 30.26 3.95 15.79

Mycoplasma 98.68 were negative 1.32 positive(data from G. Anderson, Univ. of Maine MeCHAP)

So how do they achieve quality?

• Average milk sold per cow in 2004 was 14,100 lbs

• Substantial milk quality bonus• Bonus programs include quality,

seasonality, volume, and “signing”

Organic Valley (CROPP)• Somatic Cell Adjuster-Separate Payment Program.-

Bonus or Deduct potential. -For Every 25 points below 350 (000) =0.06 $ cwt Premium-For Every 25 points above 350= 0.06 $ cwt deduct.

• Standard Plate Count-Separate Payment Program. -Bonus & Deduct potential. -For Every 5 points below 25 (000) =0.01 $ cwt Premium-For Every 5 points above 25= 0.01 $ cwt deduct.

• P.I. Adjuster-Separate Payment Program. -Bonus & Deduct potential.

Count (1000): 0-15: + $.50 premium16-30: + $.25 premium31-50: +$.0051-100: -$25 deduct101-200: -$.50 deduct

So how do they achieve quality?

• Average milk sold per cow in 2004 was 14,100 lbs

• Substantial milk quality bonus• Utilize poor quality milk for calves• 90% of these farmers switched to

organic production for financial reasons

What Practices do they follow?

• Survey of 46 organic farms in Maine (on farm visit and phone interviews)• 67% use a CMT Paddle regularly to

identify problem cows/quarters. Most of these producers did not use the CMT before going organic.

• Additional 11% use DHI records for SCC problems

Once Identified as problems…what do they do?

• Cull rate for mastitis is about 8%• 57% use a quarter milker on

problem cows

Health Practices-What is legal to use?

Raising Organic Livestock in Maine:MOFGA Accepted Health Practices,Products and Ingredients

Updated January 2006http://www.mofga.org/tech_larl.htmlOrganic Materials Review Institute http://

www.omri.org/OMRI_datatable.htm

So What do Maine producers do for prevention and

treatment?

• 85% use Iodine dips (pre and post)• Some use nothing, bleach solutions or

Chlorhexidine teat dips• Most use paper towels, but several still use

common sponge (lowest SCC herd in the state)• 35% do use some sort of intramammary

infusions (sterile?)• 25% use mastitis vaccines (J-5, Staph or both)

Treatments are varied…Frequent stripping

Using calves on high cell count cows

Herbal and homeopathic treatments, both orally and intramammary

Aloe injections, pellets and infusions

Aspirin (very common)

Garlic given orally (whole cloves)

Ship cow to conventional neighbor

Peppermint liniment

Vitamin/mineral injections (Mu-Se)

Hydrogen Peroxide infusions

Other organic qualities?

• Organic milk…higher CLA content?• Does UHT impact consumer acceptance?• Local vs organic• The organic Walmart market…• Animal welfare..are organic cows happy

cows?• Are organic farms more environmentally

friendly?

Other Organic Dairy Research

University of Maine and University of Vermont are studying the cost of production and transition of organic dairy farms (CSREES funded)

University of Maine and New Hampshire along with ARS/NEPSWL have started an organic forage system trial with CSREES funding

University of New Hampshire as launched an initiative to build an organic dairy research facility and hope to be the first land grant University with an organic dairy herd.

Univ. of Maine, ARS/NEPSWL and UVM have received funding for organic grain research