Doctoral student Maria Gustavsson

Maria started her doctoral project in March 2025. The overall aim of the project is to investigate the relationship between feed efficiency and methane emissions in individual dairy cows and their offspring in the form of growing beef cattle for meat production. The project will also develop a new model for estimating feed consumption in dairy cows and young cattle.

Milk production affects the climate due to greenhouse gas emissions. In the project, methane emissions from animals will be measured using the GreenFeed system. In order to investigate variations in feed efficiency and methane emissions between different animals, the project will also measure and analyze activity, feed consumption, and feed digestibility for both dairy cows and beef cattle. In addition, the milk yield, milk quality, and body weight of dairy cows, as well as the growth and carcass characteristics of beef cattle, will be investigated. The results will be used to validate the model for estimating feed consumption. The goal is for the model to be used for technology that can provide a better estimate of feed consumption in cattle at the individual level than the technology currently available. This should lead to more profitable and sustainable agriculture.