Profitable, effective and sustainable environments for dairy cattle: The future of dairy cow housing
Although the vast majority of British dairy cows are housed during winter (and an increasing number are housed year round), there remain fundamental gaps in our knowledge of what constitutes an ideal housed environment.
Here at the Ruminant Population Health Research Group, we’re providing an exciting new approach to research in this field. Our aim is to optimise the housed environment of dairy cows, improving their health, welfare, fertility and productivity.
Spotlight project
Innovative research from a flagship new facility
This groundbreaking project is scheduled to begin in November 2017 and will be undertaken in a novel facility being constructed at The University of Nottingham.
Partly funded by Innovate UK as part of the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock, the £6m dairy redevelopment will be named the Centre for Dairy Science Innovation. Its unique facilities will enable, for the first time ever, controlled research to be carried out within a flexible, interchangeable housed environment for adult dairy cows.
We will be able to conduct balanced clinical trials with cows in their natural environments, over several weeks, months or even years. We will make extensive use of a wide range of technologies, including location and activity monitoring, rumination, CCTV and environmental sensors.