The Swedish Livestock Research Centre is an important facility for research and teaching. On an average ten projects are running daily at the research centre.
Read about some ongoing research projects. For more projects, please see the Swedish version of this page.
The objective of the project is to, based on an innovative multi-sensor technology for image sensors, develop a robust easy-to-use system for monitoring animal health, which will ease livestock management and research, improve animal health, and reduce environmental impact.
Niclas Högberg, niclas.hogberg@slu.se, tel. +4618672381
Ulf Emanuelson, ulf.emanuelson@slu.se, tel. +4618671826
Mastitis, an inflammation of the udder, is most commonly caused by infection, with Staphylococcus aureus being the most frequently isolated bacterium. Udder infections with S. aureus lead to reduced milk production and are known to cause chronic infections. Furthermore, mastitis increases workload for farmers, reduces milk quality, decreases the productive lifespan of dairy cows, and often results in premature culling. In Sweden, mastitis is the leading reason for antibiotic treatment in dairy cows. The inflammatory response in mastitis causes pain and reduces the well-being of affected animals. At the same time, the inflammatory reaction is a critical component of the immune defense against the pathogen. From an animal welfare perspective, it is important to detect and limit pain. Both farmers and veterinarians agree that severe mastitis is painful, but while studies suggest that cows experience pain even with mild or subclinical mastitis, opinions differ on the extent of pain in these conditions.
Sickness behaviour encompass physiological and behavioural changes observed during infection or inflammation. These include reduced appetite, decreased social activity, lethargy, and altered grooming patterns, offering valuable insights into animal health and disease progression. The planned experiment primarily involves the experimental inoculation of vaccinated and non-vaccinated animals with inactivated S. aureus to evaluate the protective effect of the test vaccine. Additionally, the study aims to investigate behavioural changes and pain-related behaviour exhibited by the animals in response to vaccination and exposure to S. aureus.
Josef Dahlberg, josef.dahlberg@slu.se, +4618671686
Niclas Högberg, niclas.hogberg@slu.se
Antimicrobial resistance can be transmitted between bacteria in animals and humans; therefore it can be considered as a zoonosis. Antibiotics are added to extenders for animal semen to control the growth of bacteria, according to governmental directives for international trade in semen. Large amounts of semen are used for dairy cattle breeding. In a previous study it was possible to separate spermatozoa from most of the bacteria in bull semen using centrifugation through a low density colloid, Bovicoll. The present application will test the hypothesis that these samples retain their quality and fertility in an artificial insemination trial. Split ejaculates will be used, preparing half of each ejaculate by Single Layer Centrifugation through a colloid (without antibiotics) and using the other half as the control (with antibiotics). The sperm samples will be frozen as insemination doses. An artificial insemination trial will be carried out with 100 cows in the control and SLC groups, noting the number of cows returning to service at 21 days, the non-return rate at 56 days, and the number of cows producing a calf in each group. The future fertility of the cows i.e. the ability to become pregnant again after calving, will be recorded when possible.
Jane Morrell, jane.morrell@slu.se, +4618673464
Design elements of cubicles are known to affects cow’s motion patterns (Lidfors, 1989). 3D kinematics are a practical way of measuring the cows’ spatial use directly (Ceballos et al., 2004).
The aim of this study is to modify the cubicle design with simple interventions and measure their effect on posture transition kinematics and lying posture, using multi-view computer vision, hypothesizing an improvement in movement opportunities and potential trade-offs with lying behaviour.
The effect of the intervention on lying time, lying bout frequency, space sharing and spatial distribution in the stall will also be measured.
Adrien Kroese, adrien.kroese@slu.se, +46761264028
Lotta Jönsson, Research and Education Coordinator the Swedish Livestock Research Centre, SLU lotta.jonsson@slu.se, +4618673217
Johanna Grundin, Research and Education Coordinator the Swedish Livestock Research Centre, SLU johanna.grundin@slu.se, +4618671698
Linnea Eberson, Research and Education Coordinator the Swedish Livestock Research Centre, SLU linnea.eberson@slu.se, +4618672948