Precision dairy farming to improve health and production

Tariq Halasa and Volker Krömker from IVH in collaboration with Prof. Lars Rönnegård from the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and Researcher Per Peetz Nielsen from RISE have obtained funding (15 million SEK) from FORMAS for a research project aiming at using precision dairy farming to improve health and productivity for dairy cattle. A PhD student will be employed at section for production, nutrition and health (PNH) to study the dynamics of mastitis causing pathogens within dairy cattle herds and to quantify the impact of different reservoirs (within the herds) on the spread of the pathogens. In addition, a post-doc will be employed at section of animal welfare and disease control (AWD) to examine the cost-effectiveness of different control measures for the spread of mastitis causing pathogens.

Two post-docs and one PhD student will also be employed at SLU within the framework of the project (https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/jobs-vacancies/). The PhD and post-doc at IVH will work closely in collaboration with the participants from SLU and RISE. The project has started at 01.01.2020 and is expected to last for 3 years.