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:

    1. High and often uncontrolled use of antibiotics and other veterinary drugs
    2. Increased resistance of microbes against crucial antibiotics (AMR)
    3. Reduced food quality and safety due to residues in milk and meat
    4. Reduced farm income due to high cattle health care costs, reduced productivity, and animal loss
    5. Increased levels of drug residues in environment, leading to loss of biodiversity, and reduced soil- & water quality
    6. Landscape changes
    7. Increased impact of livestock on climate change, biodiversity and soil fertility
See also NLF problem tree
Livestock exchange

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.

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Worldwide production of residue-free milk

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.

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Natural Livestock Farming Foundation

Our team

Natural Livestock Farming is an independent organization, that cooperates closely with other initiatives with similar objectives.

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Herebal medicine

Board and finance

The Foundation functions with a one-tier international board, including and executive board and a non-executive/administrative board..

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