By Jacki Martinez Perkins, MOFGA’s Organic Dairy and Livestock Specialist
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) amended the Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards (OLPS) production requirements by adding new provisions for livestock handling and transport, slaughter, and avian (poultry) living conditions; and expanding and clarifying existing requirements covering livestock care and production practices and non-avian living conditions.
§ 205.238 (a)(8) Livestock care and production practices standard.
(8) Monitoring of lameness; timely and appropriate treatment of lameness for the species; and mitigation of the causes of lameness.
Organic livestock are on pasture and the question arises around if organic producers should be concerned about hoof health. Well, those pastures can actually be the problem, and genetic selection can only go so far in adverse conditions. When hooves are exposed to constantly wet, soft conditions, there’s a host of bacteria and viruses that can infect the softened hoof horn material. There’s also an increased risk of abscesses from rock bruising that tends to happen in laneways.
Hoof maintenance can be done without fancy equipment, and many issues can be resolved with some imaginative management tweaks. The most important infrastructure investment is having a handling system in which hooves can be lifted and secured. After that, trimming tools come down to preference. Some people choose to use a specialized grinding wheel and a hoof knife. Others employ a less aggressive hand rasp and knife. Small ruminant producers are able to effectively manage hoof growth with a good pair of gardener’s pruning shears.
It is important to study some anatomy photos before trimming to get a sense of the internal structures of hooves and align the outside hoof capsule to the internal bone structure. Cloven-hoofed animals have more surface area that is susceptible to disease. The most common issues seen on our organic farms include digital dermatitis (hair heel warts), hoof rot (toe necrosis), heel horn erosion, abscesses, and white line disease. These common issues can be treated with things like copper sulfate and/or iodine, but these treatments indicate a larger management issue that needs to be addressed within the organic system plan. Providing clean, dry conditions for a few hours each day, and twice yearly trimming often resolves many of these problems. Learning to apply therapeutic blocks or shoe support can allow for pain relief and healing time.
Maintenance is always more cost effective than treatment, and comfortable animals create better yields. Good hoof care is not only a welfare concern, but an economic one. If your budget feels too tight to hire a professional hoof trimmer, you might consider requesting some on-farm technical assistance from me, MOFGA’s own dairy and livestock specialist. Trying can be a better option than doing nothing, and it’s always our responsibility as herd and flock managers to put the welfare of our livestock as the first priority. Don’t let poor hoof health be the reason to cull and/or euthanize otherwise healthy animals.
(e)(1) (b) Preventive medicines and parasiticides. Producers may administer medications that are allowed under § 205.603 of this part to alleviate pain or suffering, and when preventive practices and veterinary biologics are inadequate to prevent sickness. Parasiticides allowed under § 205.603 of this part may be used on:
d) Parasite control plans.
(1) Organic livestock operations must have comprehensive plans to minimize internal parasite problems in livestock, including preventive measures such as pasture management, fecal monitoring, and emergency measures in the event of a parasite outbreak.
Organic management takes a holistic approach and using chemical intervention is low on the list of preferred practices. Some species and stages of life are more susceptible to internal parasite overloads than others. For example, sheep and goats are notorious for needing routine deworming, and recently weaned calves are at higher risk of showing symptoms of parasitic infestations of various kinds. As managers, we can quite often trace these issues back to a breakdown of how these creatures evolved. In short, if there’s a problem, it’s generally our fault.
Well-established, healthy grazing systems are ones that have been designed to mitigate parasitic infestation and to disrupt their breeding lifecycles. For example, some kinds of bot flies need to lay eggs in mosquitos in order for them to be transferred to a host. Eliminating breeding grounds for mosquitoes reduces the risk of many factors, including issues with these kinds of bot flies. Many larval stages of parasites are able to travel along the wet stems of grasses. The plant crown area can stay moist enough to allow parasitic larva to live, and managers should never allow livestock to graze below this point. Similarly, farms experiencing particularly wet conditions also harbor larva that may potentially travel further up the grass stem than expected. Adjusting grazing times and dates to mitigate these factors leads to a reduction in fecal egg counts. Strategies such as waiting to graze after the morning dew has dried or avoiding grazing wet areas until later in the season can help control infestation events.
Transitioning livestock away from routine chemical intervention (which is not allowed in organic production) usually means replacing treatments with fecal monitoring and recording fecal egg counts for comparison. This is done with investment in a microscope capable of 10x magnification, microscope slides, and some training on how to set it up. There are herbal supplements on the market, such as oregano oil, that can reduce fecal egg counts, but they need to be fed constantly and cannot be used on an as-needed basis. Some targeted planting of forages high in tannins, such as vetch, can help to manage fecal egg counts as well. These can be integrated into a grazing system by timed, targeted grazing events. For example, planting a plot of vetch and allowing sheep to graze at the end of the season when fall rains rehydrate dormant populations of larva can reduce the parasite load. Goats can be allowed to forage woody species such as young oaks, chestnuts, or cherry trees at various times of the year to help purge their systems.
There are many internal and external parasites that farm managers need to be aware of and educated about but keeping conditions as clean and healthy as possible will help to reduce the impact they can have on our livestock.
(e) Euthanasia.
(1) Organic livestock operations must have written plans for prompt, humane euthanasia for sick or injured livestock suffering from irreversible disease or injury.
(b)(d)(1)(e)(1)
As a little girl on farm calls with my mom, a large animal veterinarian, I watched countless owners struggle with the decision to continue care or euthanize. It can be argued that livestock producers care the most about the animals in their care. Knowing when to release an animal (that is very often a friend) from its suffering can be the hardest thing about keeping and raising livestock. Under the new OLPS rules, that plan must be written and followed to maintain animal welfare. Even without organic certification requirements, having a written plan and a known threshold for when to euthanize and how to manage the subsequent carcass is important. Losing beings under our care is emotionally charged, and it can be financially difficult as well as humanely impossible to keep them alive. Developing a euthanasia and disposal plan while in a rational state of mind can save loads of grief and regret in the event of a series of unfortunate events.
** This article was originally published in The Organic Sprout (https://mofgacertification.org/the-organic-sprout/), the bi-annual newsletter of MOFGA Certification Services LLC. MCS was formed by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) to provide USDA-accredited organic certification services to farms and food processors. Learn more at mofga.org (https://www.mofga.org/).
Posted: to Organic Production on Sun, Jul 13, 2025
Updated: Sun, Jul 13, 2025
