Bioveem : External Report 12 February 2006 Bioveem is a collaboration project of 17 biological milk cattle holders, Louis Bolk institute, Animal sciences group / practice investigation and DLV- advice group n. v. Preface Research has been done into the use of homeopathic remedies for the prevention and
Bioveem : External Report 12 February 2006
Bioveem is a collaboration project of 17 biological milk cattle holders, Louis Bolk institute, Animal sciences group / practice investigation and DLV- advice group n. v.
Preface
Research has been done into the use of homeopathic remedies for the prevention and treatment of calf diarrhoea by different cattle holders, inside and outside the project Bioveem and by students of agricultural colleges.
The report gives an account of the experiences that cattle holders have gathered with the use of homeopathic remedies in calf diarrhoea Starting from these experiences double blind research has been done into the prevention and treatment of calf diarrhoea with the help of homeopathic remedies.
The expectation was such that the homeopathic research conducted in this way would yield better results. These expectations were confirmed. This is why the procedure used in this research is offering interesting perspectives for homeopathic research in the future. Our gratitude goes out to the cattle holders and the students who have collaborated with the research.
Liesbeth Ellinger
Resume and recommendations for practice and for homeopathic research
Diarrhoea is one of the most prevailing problems the calf can suffer from, during the period of weaning.
Cattle holders who are familiar with the use of homeopathy regularly use homeopathic remedies for the treatment of diarrhoea There are others who use them to prevent the diarrhoea .
In this research paper, the experiences of cattle holders with homeopathy on their own farms are described. It can be confirmed that the experiences of the cattle holders give clues for the positive effects of the administrated homeopathic remedies.
In continuation, double blind research has been done into the effects of homeopathy for the prevention of calf diarrhoea . It seems there is a significant difference in the prevalence of diarrhoea between calves that received a preventive homeopathic remedy and the ones that received placebo.
Double blind research into the effect of treatment of calf diarrhoea has been done with different homeopathic remedies. The choice of the remedy was different according to the company and was chosen according to the experience of the cattle holder. It became clear that a significant difference in the time of cure of calf diarrhoea between animals treated with homeopathic remedies and the ones administered a placebo could be established.
Research into the effects of homeopathic remedies with animals as well as humans, in a number of cases, show no significant difference between placebo and verum group.
This does not correspond with the good results obtained by homeopathy used in diseases described by cattle holders who frequently use homeopathy at their plantation. This is why in this research a method has been looked for that gives justice to the homeopathic principles of individualization to come to a choice of a remedy and at the same time makes use of the previous experiences of cattle holders. For the research, cattle holders have been selected that had previous positive experiences with the use of homeopathy in calf diarrhoea .
On these farms double blind research has been done, making use of the particular homeopathic remedy pointed out by the cattle holder as being effective on his farm.
Because of this design the probability for better results is more likely, in contrast with other homeopathic research.
Recommendations
Recommendations for cattle holders
The prevention of calf diarrhoea always deserves priority above intervention with more or less artificial means. When the appropriate measures of hygiene, nutrition, climate, etc. yield insufficient result, preventive use of homeopathic remedies is recommended.
The use of homeopathic remedies with calf diarrhoea results in a shorter duration of diarrhoea and so is recommended when it appears.
It is recommended to make a clear differentiation between different remedies to come to an optimal result.
- The general condition of the calf, as well as appetite and drinking behavior, seems in a number of cases to give some additional information to be able to come to a correct choice of the remedy and as such should be taken into account in choosing the homeopathic remedy.
- Color, smell and consistency of the dung gives useful information and should also be taken in to account when choosing the remedy.
An indication can be given for the use of the homeopathic remedies that were tested.
Calcarea phosphorica 200K can be given with white dung that often doesn’t stink much and often is caused by drinking to much milk.
Arsenicum album is successfully given when the diarrhoea is very smelly and the animals are weak and diseased. The smell of the dung is especially decisive for the choice of Arsenicum.
Veratrum album is given when the dung looks like water and so is almost colorless. Mostly the dung doesn’t smell much. It can however look green and may be smelly. The animals can at the onset of symptoms abstain from weaning and at a more serious stage they can become that weak so as to be unable to stand on their legs.
A few other remedies can possibly treat calf diarrhea. It means knowledge of homeopathy is a requisite in coming to a correct choice. In case a cattle holder wants to use homeopathy on his farm it is recommended that he follows a course in homeopathy first.
Recommendations for homeopathic research
In view of the positive results of this research, it is recommended that these same experiences are repeated and elaborating upon.
With homeopathic research, in the first instance, it is important to choose an affection with clear symptoms so the choice of the homeopathic remedy can also be clearer and fit correctly.
Vague images and affections such as a high cell count give unclear information for correct homeopathic prescription and as a consequence will lead to disappointing research results.
Serious affections react faster to the administration of homeopathic remedies compared to more mild affections so they are more fitting for research.
Affections prevailing among a larger number of animals and with the same symptoms are more fitting for double blind research than individually prevailing diseases.
When the study was executed it seemed of primordial importance that for a successful study it was first necessary to find out the fitting remedy for this particular farm, before any double blind test could be put in to practice.
Pre-investigation on the farm when no clear experiences with homeopathy were present is therefore recommended.
Research on farms of cattle keepers who had previous experience with the use of homeopathy and were able to differentiate between different remedies is therefore preferred above randomly chosen farms.
So it is important that the rules of homeopathy are respected and that according to the farm the fitting and most active remedy can be singled out.
Also more then one remedy may be necessary on the same farm and one needs to differentiate during the test.
Groundless administration of a standard remedy leads to disappointing results.
After experience has been gained in treating and researching relatively simple affections, it is recommended to enlarge the homeopathic investigation step by step to treat affections that demand more experience as far as treatment as well as research is concerned.
1 Introduction
1.1 calf diarrhoea
Diarrhoea is one of the most prevailing affections the calf can suffer during the period of weaning. Research conducted in the USA demonstrates that among cattle keepers 27 % of weaning calves suffer from one or more forms of diarrhoea. Out of these 52% die because of the consequences of this diarrhoea ( Marcinkowski, 2003 ). In The Netherlands also it seems to be a problem not to be under estimated. At the Bioveem farms diarrhoea occurres regylarly. The total death rate of calves till the age of 90 days is 3.7 %.
There are different pathogens that can cause diarrhoea . The most important ones are
Bacteria- E. coli ( diarrhoea mostly within 4 days after birth)- Salmonella ( S. dublin, S. typhymurium) ( 10 d – 10 w )Viruses- rotavirus (4 – 21 d)- coronavirus ( 4 -21 d )Protozoa- cryptosporidium parvum ( 5- 21 d )
Apart from these causes, diarrhoea can be caused by wrong nutrition or by a combination of all the above.
Environmental factors such as accommodation, climate and general hygiene on the farm play a major role in the prevalence of diarrhoea. This makes it difficult to assess a simple cause for the diarrhoea and this is why it is difficult to give an effective cause-directed treatment.
As such diarrhoea is not a disease in itself that is caused by a contamination of one or more pathogens, but more a symptom as a consequence of these pathogens or a disturbance of the environmental factors.
1.2 Homeopathy
Especially among biological cattle holders, but also among the more common ones there is a lot of interest for homeopathy. On the one hand the homeopathic ( holistic ) philosophy is more in resonance with biological farming. On the other hand after administration of chemical remedies, the products of these animals can not be used for human consumption. This waiting time is different for different medicines, but for biological agriculture a double barrage time is in application.
The search for alternatives for these medicines is a logical consequence.
Among vets active in the agriculture pet sector there seemed to be no interest for homeopathy. Because of this a group of biological cattle keepers has been pushing for a solution so they are still able to apply homeopathy.
In the year 2000 a course was started for (milk) cattle keepers where they could become acquainted with homeopathy and could learn how to solve themselves a number of problems with the help of homeopathy
Starting from 2000 up till now 21 courses of homeopathy applied to affections in cattle have been given.
In all 280 cattle keepers have participated in the courses.
Because of the setup of the course where the exchange of experience plays a central role, it became very quickly clear which affections can be treated in a relatively simple and successful way and which affections can only be treated by more experienced cattle keepers.
In recent years regular research has been done into the use of homeopathy, also among farm animals( Baars & Baars 2002, Schutte 1994 ). In the cited papers in a number of cases there seems to be a significant success with homeopathic treatment. The convincing results the cattle keepers mention in practice can however not very often be recognized in these researches.
Homeopathy starts from the individual patient. This means that the choice of the remedy is not determined by the disease but rather by the subjective symptoms the patient experiences during his illness. This makes it possible that different patients with the same disease all can be prescribed a different remedy. Research is not very often conducted with this fact in mind.
Farm animals live in large groups under the same circumstances such as climate, accommodation, nutrition, care, etc. Moreover these animals have a similar genetic background. When these animals get diseased more or less at the same time and when they also get more or less the same symptoms it appears that very often they are administered the same remedy.
So it seems possible with these animals to deviate from the strictly individualized homeopathic prescription and to treat these animals as a group.
This makes such a group extremely suitable for double blind research.
One of the goals of the research is to ascertain whether it is possible to ameliorate the setup of homeopathic research. This is accomplished by keeping in mind the principles of homeopathy and with the fact that groups of animals under certain circumstances can by treated by the same homeopathic remedy. Also the previous experience the cattle keepers had with the use of certain homeopathic remedies was taken into account.
One of the affections cattle keepers seem to be able to treat with success is calf diarrhea. It was decided to put up double blind trials for the treatment of calf diarrhea on 3 Bioveem farms.
Also research has been set up at 1 other company that can successfully prevent diarrhoea with the help of homeopathy ( preventive use ).
1.3 Objective and questionnaire
Objective
- the description of experiences cattle holders had with the use of homeopathy at their own company.- the verification of these experiences by means of double blind research.- the verification of the thesis that homeopathic research among farm animals, that acknowledges the homeopathic principles and where the previous experiences of the farmers are taken into account, yields better results.
Questionnaire
- how do the cattle keepers judge the effect of the homeopathic treatment? Does their experience demonstrate a preventive and / or curative action of homeopathy?- does the double blind research demonstrate that the homeopathic treatment on the concerned farms is effective?- are better results from the double blind research to be expected when the choice of the homeopathic remedy is based on the already existing experience of the cattle keeper which remedy is giving the best results for his animals?
Bookmarker : the experiences in relation to homeopathy of these various cattle keepers are discussed. Next the trial with the preventive treatment is discussed, followed by the trial with the curative treatment. The last one was executed among 3 companies with various homeopathic remedies. First the different companies are discussed separately and after follows an overview of the totality of all results.
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