Animal health tips for SalzburgMilch farmers
Katharina Lichtmannsperger is SalzburgMilch's veterinarian, who advises 2,500 dairy farmers
Around 1,500 farming families have taken part in two SalzburgMilch webinars on the subject of ‘Animal welfare and animal health on my farm’ in Austria. They learned about the background, previous results and findings on the subject of animal welfare.
As early as 2017, SalzburgMilch was the first dairy in Austria to completely dispense with year-round tethering, thus underlining its pioneering role in the field of animal health and animal welfare. All dairy cows have exercise and/or access to pasture for at least 120 days a year.
SalzburgMilch is the only large dairy in Austria so far to have its own veterinarian, who advises the 2,500 dairy farmers. Katharina Lichtmannsperger, the veterinarian at SalzburgMilch, together with Josef Schenkenfelder from BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences), organised a series of webinars on the subject of animal welfare and health for SalzburgMilch suppliers.
The farmers found out, among other things, how their dairy cows are assessed in the independent animal health checks, which criteria must be met and what the individual indicators mean in detail.
Lichtmannsperger is pleased, noting, “SalzburgMilch suppliers take the subject of animal welfare very seriously. They want to know exactly what the results of the animal health checks say and whether there are still ways to further improve the well-being of the cows. We are very pleased that so many farmers took advantage of the opportunity for further training.”
She is convinced that this hitherto unique animal health initiative, which for the first time comprehensively and independently implements scientific criteria for animal welfare in dairy cows on farms, significantly increases the welfare of the animals.
