Udder health status of cows in early lactation - a comparison between a dairy and a dual purpose breed

The aim of organic farming to produce forage-based milk and to lower the amount of concentrate fed leads to an increased risk of metabolic disorders, especially in early lactation when the demand for energy often oversteps the energy provided. The use of breeds with a lower genetic merit for milk yield might offer a solution. Our study compared a dual-purpose and a dairy breed kept under the same management conditions and two herds consisting of the same dairy breed, but managed differently, to test the effect of the breed or the management on the metabolic status and on udder health of the cows during the first five weeks of lactation. The analyses of the udder health status revealed that the German Holstein (GH) cows at both farms had a better udder health than the German Red Pied (GRP) cows: Nearly 50% of the GH cows did not show any sign of an udder infection while only 27% of the GRP cows were not infected. This is reflected in the number of cows which showed symptoms of clinical mastitis: 15% and 25% of GH and GRP cows, respectively. Thus, our study showed that a local dual purpose breed not necessarily shows a better udder health due to a lower metabolic load, and maybe in this case the breed is more important than the management.