Alternatives in Animal Care

By Shelly Juurlink, M.Sc.

Consumer interest in organic dairy products is growing. Dairy producers are increasingly considering the transition from conventional to organic management. This process can be overwhelming. Producers have questions particularly in the areas of herd health and treatment of disease. Dr. Paul Dettloff, a veterinarian and a homeopathic and holistic practitioner addresses many of these concerns in his book Alternative Treatments for Ruminant Animals.

Dr. Paul Dettloff was born and raised on a farm in Wisconsin. As a graduate from the University of Wisconsin in 1967, Dr. Detloff worked as a conventional large animal veterinarian for over 30 years. He now specializes in the sustainable and organic treatment of dairy and beef cows, sheep and goats using natural remedies, botanicals, homeopathy and holistic treatment of the farm.

His book is a wide-ranging and an enjoyable read. It is written as if Dr. Dettloff is sitting in the room with you, explaining how and why garlic is beneficial to a calf with pneumonia, or how feeding a few ounces of kelp to young calves can help clear up ringworm.

As a preface, Dr. Dettloff tells about his “60 years of dairying”, beginning with describing the joy of being raised on a dairy farm with 15 cross breds that he and his father milked by hand. He describes their 1952 winter ration consisting of long stemmed loose grassy hay, 10 pounds of corn silage, a coffee can full of home ground cob corn and whole oats, and a “little bone meal” when they remembered. For almost four decades, Dr. Dettloff has observed the natural methods for ruminant care being lost to the high-tech methods incorporating hormones and chemicals in the modern industrial farm.

In a further chapter he describes how today’s dairy animals can receive up to 50% dry matter provided by grain and how ruminant animals aren’t designed to digest a diet so high in starch. He comprehensively explains how an increase in starch digestion lowers the pH in the rumen resulting in acidosis, an increase in H atoms and unbalanced sodium–potassium pump. The result is a suffering immune system manifesting in the form of feet problems, hemorrhages, sole abscesses, high somatic cell counts and poor breeding.

Dr. Dettloff searched for information about acidosis in his old veterinary books, but did not find it. It was not a problem before high grain rations. Acidosis came about when farmers starting feeding increasing amounts of grains to increase milk production instead of improving the quality of forages by working with the soil.

Dr. Dettloff takes the reader through a journey of preventative health practices and gentle remedies and treatments for ailments. He recommends Aloe vera and Echinacea for high somatic cell count. He recommends Arnica, a homeopathic remedy widely used in organic herds, to encourage healing after calving or trauma. The ingredients in Dr. Dettloff’s suggested remedies can be found in your local grocery or health food store. They are often more inexpensive than conventional alternatives.

The book is available in paperback form and is laid out in chapters according to organ systems. It covers maladies of the digestion, reproduction, respiratory, nervous, urinary, skin, circulatory, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, endocrine and immune systems and recommends simple and available remedies. I would recommend Dr. Dettloff’s book for any farmer who is considering transitioning to organic or even for those interested in alternatives to conventional medicine for their herd. It is available at www.acresusa.com.

Dairy producers transitioning into organic are guided by the organic principles that animals need to be handled humanely, and allowed to express their natural behaviours. Management needs to minimize stress, prevent disease and maintain health. The transition goes beyond substituting organic grain for conventional grain. Dr. Dettloff’s book can be a useful resource for producers looking for alternative methods to maintain the health of their ruminant animals.


Shelly Juurlink is the Organic Dairy Extension and Research Specialist with Organic Meadows and OACC at NSAC. For more information, please contact Shelly Juurlink (in Eastern Canada) or Heather Mason (in western Canada), Research and Extension Associate with OACC at the University of Alberta at 780-433-6687 or hmason@ualberta.ca. Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag., is the Research and Extension Associate for OACC at the College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan. She welcomes your comments at 306-966-4975 or via email at brenda.frick@usask.ca.


This article first appeared in The Western Producer, and is published here on the OACC website with permission.


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Posted July 2007