Project titel: New concepts for organic calves from dairy farms for high-quality beef cattle fattening
STUDIA is part of the ‘FRESSER’ project alongside BIO AUSTRIA, Raumberg Gumpenstein and the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture. “Fresser” are calves that are fed between 4 and 5 months of age to a weight of 150 to 180 kg and then finished on fattening farms or on the farm itself.
Currently, the majority of Austria’s organic beef demand is met by offspring from cow-calf rearing, which can be found in food retail outlets as organic young beef or organic pasture-raised beef. Due to the declining number of organic suckler cows in Austria over the last 10 years, there is a shortage of organic beef on the market. Food retailers are therefore expressing strong interest in products from new organic beef fattening channels. In addition, according to the BML’s ‘Vision 2028+’, demand for organic products in communal catering, gastronomy and food retail is set to increase further in the future (BML 2024).
While the number of suckler cows is declining, the number of organic dairy cows is increasing. The calves of organic dairy cows are also used for beef fattening, but are usually sold at a very young age (2-6 weeks) to conventional (pre-)fattening farms in Austria and abroad. One reason for this is that organic calf rearing is currently not profitable for most organic farms due to higher costs, mainly due to more expensive feed such as milk and concentrated feed. The calves are thus lost to the organic fattening system and are therefore missing from organic beef fattening. In order for calves from dairy farms to remain in the organic cycle, new concepts for quality cattle fattening in organic farming need to be developed.
In the FRESSER project, four different versions of calf rearing are to be tested on project farms and their economic viability assessed. In addition to “Fresser” production on organic dairy farms, these will include “Fresser” production by specialised organic feeder producers, “Fresser” production on organic finishing farms, and “Fresser” production in organic suckler cow or foster cow husbandry with direct cow-calf contact.
The findings from the project are intended to help interested farms make decisions and, where appropriate, support them in starting and establishing successful calf rearing.
STUDIA’s responsibilities in this project are:
- Economic evaluation of organic calf production and the subsequent organic fattening of heifers and steers,
- Comparison of the economic efficiency of different calf production systems.
- Identification of economically relevant adjustment levers.
- The discussion of possible support measures and differentiated marketing strategies.
Project duration: Feb.2025-Jan.2028
Project lead: Bio Austria
More information (in German): https://www.bio-austria.at/bio-bauern/beratung/tierische-erzeugung/projekt-eip-fresseraufzucht/
Funding programme: EIP-Agri: The European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-Agri) is a concept for promoting innovation in agriculture and forestry. The aim of EIP-AGRI is to improve the exchange between modern research and technology and agricultural and forestry practice.
