Samenvatting

In the European Union, cattle registration has been harmonised, and every farmer has to report cattle deaths to a national computer database. However, there is no obligation to mention the reason for culling, death or slaughter. In dairy farming, the herd is constantly renewed by letting in some young cows, and to keep the same number of heads, some other cows have to exit the production. From an economic and environmental point of view, it is paramount to increase the longevity of dairy cows. In Denmark in 2021, only approximately 66,8% of all culled cows had a reason for departure registered. Therefore, there is a lack of detailed understanding of why a third of the Danish dairy cattle are culled. A literature study and e-mail interviews were carried out in order to answer the following question: How to identify ways to improve the recording of culling reasons for Danish dairy cattle by exploring European systems?