tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post1313067965424151807..comments2024-03-03T13:36:10.569-05:00Comments on The Dog Zombie: Organic standards and animal welfareThe Dog Zombiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-9775288210010278862013-04-17T17:58:47.515-04:002013-04-17T17:58:47.515-04:00My family runs an organic farm, Granted we only ha...My family runs an organic farm, Granted we only have 12 dairy cows so its kind of hard to compare. But they are very healthy animals. For one thing cows are not meant to be fed grain. Conventional farmers feed it because it improves production. Unfortunately it doesn't improve it enough to offset the feed cost. Grass fed cows will be healthier. Lots of conventional dairy farms have cows that never see the light of day. Anytime you pen animals up in an enclosed space and never let them out your inviting a whole host of problems. Our family has been eating organic meat, milk, vegetables for over 20 years and it hasn't killed anyone yet. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-486286478551043602012-06-22T10:50:00.883-04:002012-06-22T10:50:00.883-04:00I'm so enthusiastic that there is non-organic,...I'm so enthusiastic that there is non-organic, local, grass-fed dairy available in the city I just moved to. That's really what I think the right answer is. The organic standards in the US are just not the right answer if you care about animal welfare, so far as I can tell. Next we need third-party welfare certification for these small producers so we can trust that THEY treat their cows right, as there are certainly other reasons to put off medication aside from organic regulations (antibiotics can be expensive!).The Dog Zombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-85006259084686668142012-06-22T10:48:00.247-04:002012-06-22T10:48:00.247-04:00Yes, it'd be a hard study to put together for ...Yes, it'd be a hard study to put together for a lot of reasons, none of them scientific! This is why I'm thinking an expose might be more effective (although of course also much more disruptive). It's too bad.The Dog Zombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-518609691002137122012-06-22T04:33:44.474-04:002012-06-22T04:33:44.474-04:00In Spain, organic farmers can give antibiotics and...In Spain, organic farmers can give antibiotics and antihelmintics, but only orally, nothing injected. Try to give oral medications to free-range cows, its just imposible. The result: lots of parasites, both external and internal, and frecuent diseases in lungs and liver. <br />My best friend works with an association that gives quality stamps to beef, and she NEVER eats organic meat. <br />Health is a pillar for well-being, you can't have happy sick animals. And I prefer my meat free from parasites, thank you.<br />And I'm not talking about milk cows, that don't get their mastitis treated until reaaaaalll bad...teresavethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08595802761475051525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-87834501610633436492012-06-22T00:19:14.580-04:002012-06-22T00:19:14.580-04:00Thanks for your input DZ, I'm glad you found t...Thanks for your input DZ, I'm glad you found the paper interesting!<br /><br />I was really interested in finding that information as well, but the closest I could get was Zwald et al. comparing the rates of antibiotic use between conventional and organic dairies (http://milkquality.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/antimicrobial-usage-JDS1.pdf). They found that there was a significantly lower amount of antibiotics used at org operations, but don't have specific data on when treatment was given or the state of the animal prior to treatment(s).<br /><br />The vague conclusion we can make is that because rates of mastitis and other disease are similar between the two kinds of management, and antibiotics aren't used as heavily in one, there either is a reduced need for antibiotic use overall, or some animals aren't receiving the care they need. Obviously we can't tell from the data available which way the case really is, but its an extremely important question to ask. I'm skeptical of any study that would try to answer that question though, as there's a huge financial incentive to support either conclusion. That data would be extremely hard to come by from willing participants, and the risk of bias in the reported result would be high.Austin J. Bouckhttp://blogs.oregonstate.edu/aboucknoreply@blogger.com