Answer:
1. Animal health promotion and disease prevention according to IFOAM Norms
Organic management practices promote and maintain the health and well-being of animal through balanced organic nutrition, stress-free living conditions and breed selection for resistance to disease, parasites and infections. (see IFOAM Norms, general Principle for Veterinary Medicine).
Factors influencing animal health and wellbeing
2. Animal welfare
Ideas about animal welfare began in ancient civilizations and exist in many religions and cultures today. Many countries incorporate some elements of animal protection in their laws. People's concerns about animal welfare are normally based on the idea that we should take steps to maximize the well-being of animals, especially wherever we use or interact with them. This includes animals in the wild, those we keep as pets, those we use as entertainment or in research, and those that we use for food. Some in society disagree with the use of animals by people and believe that they should be afforded basic rights in society so as not to be misused by humans.
Animals are an important component of an organic farm. They form part of a system in which all parts interact to their mutual benefit. However, until recently more attention was paid to crops, soil fertitliy, plant health and the design of crop rotation, and animals were not a high priority. This is surprising as Farm animals make important contributions to organic farming systems. With the negative side-effects of intensive and industrial animal production became a major driving force behind the advance of animal welfare standards.
Animals are fundamentally different than crops
Opposed to crops, animals are also sentient beings with feelings. This aspect of the animals requires special considerations. This makes their management fundamentally different from that of crops: "When a farmer is learning to manage a farm with no chemical inputs, sometimes a field may become overgrown with weeds, for example. The farmer might not be able to do much about it, and may simply accept the loss as an inevitable part of learning how to farm organically. However, it is not acceptable to let animals suffer or die.
Animal welfare can be defined and understood in different ways. As a minimum, it can be understood as a state in which animals are free of disease, pain, suffering, discomfort and stress and that they should be free to behave naturally in their environment. Good animal welfare therefore requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment, appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling and humane slaughter/killing.
To ensure all this is both important in organic and conventional animal husbandry, but the organic principles go further than that. Organic livestock farming should allow as much naturalness as possible, and this goes further than the behavior and comprises also feeding, breeding and avoiding mutilations. This is not the same as 'living in nature': the animals do not live in nature, and we took them into our households. We are therefore responsible for intervening when they need it, and be able to know when they need it.
Signs that an animal has a good state of welfare can include longevity, having low levels of disease, displaying normal behavior, and reproducing normally.
Taking care of animals requires considerable knowledge and experience, which is also an important part of a well-working organic agricultural system. People who interact with animals must have the skills and knowledge needed to best provide for the animals in their care.
