Welfare, health and product quality in organic beef production: a Danish perspective

In Europe, organic beef production is based on grazing in summer and feeding a minimum of 60% roughage during the whole year. Although these recommendations were intended to improve animal health and welfare, several factors may cause problems in organic beef production systems. This paper gives an overview of welfare, health and product quality in organic beef production, with emphasis on organic steer production based on dairy-breed bull calves. A short overview of different production systems, highlighting the effect on health and welfare, is also given. Feeding aspects are discussed. Farm studies have shown that organic steer production involves large amounts of roughage; only small quantities of cereals are used compared to conventional production of bulls and calves. Fattening of organic steers may result in metabolic disorders due to sudden changes in the feed ration when changing from high roughage to high cereal content. Various problems relating to the production system are discussed. Subjective monthly observations indicate a good level of general health and welfare in organic steer production systems. On pasture, parasitic infection is the primary factor affecting animal health and productivity of organic beef. Rearing of young calves and the utilization of marginal grazing areas requires further attention. The effect of castration on health and welfare, and the effect of castration age and method, are also discussed. Product quality of organic beef is affected by the production system, especially sex, grazing and exercise. Grazing and exercise, which are inevitable components of an organic beef production system, may affect the eating quality due to darker meat color, risk of off-flavor, yellow fat, and a higher content of unsaturated fatty acids, including conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Nevertheless, the overall effect on sensory attributes may be of minor importance. For the future, feeding large amounts of roughage, combined with a high bioactive forage content, could be one way of improving the product quality of organic beef.