Why Natural Livestock Farming?
The world-wide intensification of dairy farming has, besides boosting livestock production, also resulted in dependence on antibiotics and other chemical veterinary drugs. Farmers became more dependent on long marketing chains. The drawbacks of this intensification strategy for farmers, food quality and environment are increasingly clear, especially under the conditions of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to change our habits and take care of our planet in a more sustainable way!
The current COVID-19 virus pandemic and the climate change crisis are wake-up calls for public health, food security and food safety worldwide. Since last century, the use of veterinary drugs, artificial fertilizer and concentrated feeds in dairy farming has risen sharply. Complete landscapes were changed, today 33% of agricultural land worldwide is used for livestock feed production. These processes have greatly stimulated livestock production but also reduced the resilience of the global food system. The incidence of cattle disease and mortality increased, while in many cases animal wellbeing was affected.
The challenges in dairy cattle health are numerous and include microbial infections, viral infections, infertility and other reproductive disorders, under-nutrition, parasite infections, digestive disorders, and lameness. Many of these ailments are related to sub-optimal animal housing and feeding practices, cattle breeds lacking resilience to environmental challenges, and loss of local knowledge and natural resources.
This leads to:
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- High and often uncontrolled use of antibiotics and other veterinary drugs
- Increased resistance of microbes against crucial antibiotics (AMR)
- Reduced food quality and safety due to residues in milk and meat
- Reduced farm income due to high cattle health care costs, reduced productivity, and animal loss
- Increased levels of drug residues in environment, leading to loss of biodiversity, and reduced soil- & water quality
- Landscape changes
- Increased impact of livestock on climate change, biodiversity and soil fertility
Mission and Vission
NLF contributes to a better world in which milk and other livestock products are produced in a sustainable way: a way in which soil is enriched, animals live well, farmers get a decent income and milk is healthy and without chemical residues.
The strategy
Since 2014 farmers, livestock scientists and veterinarians from the four countries have developed and tested the NLF 5-layered approach to improve cattle health and farmer income.
Our team
Natural Livestock Farming is an independent organization, that cooperates closely with other initiatives with similar objectives.
Board and finance
The Foundation functions with a one-tier international board, including and executive board and a non-executive/administrative board..
References What others say
“Two great visits. I was inspired by the Paradise Farm, integrating good farming into care for people in need and their families”.
"Great initiative ! A front-runner in shaping a more inclusive international collaboration on sustainable livestock development. Thanks for your efforts!"
"NLF is a valuable network of people in the field, working on and surching for new ways of producing food. A new agriculture, that is good for farmers and consumers, in harmony with our natural environment."
Get in contact with NLF
Do you have a question, suggestion or remark? Please let us know! We will get in touch with you as soon as possible!
Frequently Asked Questions
There are several ways to become connected as an individual. You can become part of the NLF e-list, where we update each other on the latest activities and insights. Or follow us on social media. You can also join our regular NLF webinars on specific topics. Please let us know by sending an e-mail to info@naturallivestockfarming.com.
If you are located in one of the participating countries (India, Ethiopia, Uganda, Netherlands) you can connect to the NLF representatives in the country. See NLF country pages.
For those living outside these countries and interested to become part of the network: we can join forces to find funds for a local project in your country, and sign an MOU. Please send us your ideas by connecting through info@naturallivestockfarming.com.
We are in the process of developing NLF training sessions, on specific topics related to cattle/farm management, strategic breeding, use of herbs (ethnovet medicine), milk quality and farm income (NLF 5-layers). Moreover, we can offer courses on Lessons learnt in Dutch dairy farming; and Participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation with smallholder dairy farmers. Courses and the cost of participation will be announced on the website.
Some of the NLF at country level have specialized in other livestock species, such as chicken and small ruminants in India, and pigs, chicken, small ruminants, rabbits etc in the Netherlands.
Reducing the use of antibiotics in dairy farming was the topic at the start of the activities of the Foundation. Steadily we became aware that resistance against antibiotics is not the only issue related to resistance: also the resistance of ticks against acaricides, and resistance of worms against anthelmintics is growing. Moreover, the relevance of this problem is rapidly growing due to climate change. We found that our methodology of joint learning and application of the NLF 5-layer approach is also effective for these challenges.