Anna Hessle

I am an animal scientist, associate professor of nutrition in beef production and employed at SLU in Skara since 1999. In addition to research and some teaching, I am the coordinator of SLU Götala Beef and Lamb Research Centre, which is SLU's research facility for beef and lamb production. I am also head (assisting head of department) of the subject Beef and Lamb Production at the Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare.

My research deals with various aspects of nutrition and feeding in cattle with a special focus on beef production on semi-natural grasslands. I like interdisciplinary research where the results have a clear application and usability. During my doctoral studies, and shortly thereafter, my research focus was on how to raise beef cattle on semi-natural grasslands and combine the production of high-quality carcasses with grazing that benefits the biodiversity of plants and animals in the pastures. Both in my PhD work and in a couple of subsequent studies, my research colleagues and I have studied grazing behavior and grassland ecology.

Since then, I have worked in many different projects where I have been responsible for the feeding and production aspects of growing young cattle, not only in pasture-based systems but also in indoor production. Sometimes the focus has been on the animals' feeding, but sometimes other things such as meat quality, economics, animal welfare or pasture-borne parasites.

In recent years, I have increasingly spent time on projects a little further from the animals themselves. Among other things, I have worked with sustainability indicators in Swedish meat production and on livestock farms of various types across the EU. In two other EU-funded projects, the focus has been on communication and knowledge exchange in the areas of grazing management and, respectively, grazing and animal welfare.

Collaborative projects are ongoing all the time. Currently, I am responsible for a joint initiative on research in beef and lamb meat production with the Västra Götaland Region and the Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Society Sjuhärad. I participate in several research networks in Sweden, the Nordic countries and the EU in various projects.

My Orcid address is https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5195-1186.

Within undergraduate education, I supervise Master's and Bachelor's degree projects and deliver individual lectures, primarily within SLU's Degree Programmes in Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine. My teaching mainly focuses on nutrition and grazing in beef cattle production.

At the doctoral level, I am currently the principal supervisor of Lisa Hessle, whose PhD research focuses on beef cattle production on semi-natural grasslands and in forest grazing systems. I have previously been the principal supervisor of Dr Kristina Holmström, who studied the economics of pasture-based beef production, and Dr Mikaela Jardstedt, whose research focused on the nutrition of beef suckler cows. I have also served as co-supervisor for Dr Erik Versluijs, who studied interactions between predators and grazing livestock; VMD Niclas Högberg, whose research focused on technologies for animal health monitoring in grazing livestock; Dr Morten Tofastrud, who studied suckler-based beef production in forest grazing systems; and Licentiate Pernilla Salevid, whose research examined the economics of suckler-based beef production.

I am actively involved in a number of groups that promote collaboration and knowledge exchange both within and beyond academia.

At SLU, my role as the coordinator of Götala imply connecting various researchers' desires with practical conditions. I also serve as a member of the Committee for Livestock and of an advisory board for the university's livestock facilities. I regularly contribute to consultation responses on referrals from Swedish government agencies and I am one of the researchers to whom SLU's switchboard routinely refers enquiries from the public and the media. My role as section editor for the scientific journal Livestock Science also facilitates broader academic collaboration.

To strengthen collaboration between SLU, industry, and society, I serve, for example, on the Beef Analysis Group of the Knowledge Hub for Animal Production (Kunskapsnav Animalieproduktion). I have also previously represented SLU on the boards of several similar industry and collaboration organisations. In addition, I am deputy coordinator of the dialogue group between Stenhammar Royal Estate and SLU, which is responsible for organising the annual Stenhammar Day.

In addition to authoring more than 200 popular science publications, I have contributed to podcasts, radio and television programmes, and public debate through opinion articles.

van Wagenberg, C.P.A., Adams, N., Herceglić, N., Hessle, A. 2026. Economic sustainability performance of innovative livestock farming systems in Europe.  Livestock Science 105971, doi 10.1016/j.livsci.2026.105971.

Thielecke, D., Riesch, F., Komainda, M., Hessle, A., Jitea, I.M., Peratoner, G., Dumitras, D.E., van den Pol-van Dasselaar, A., Isselstein, J. 2026. Multi-species seed mixtures for sustainable pastures in Europe? Exploring farmers’ intention and needs. Grass and Forage Science 81:e70055, doi: 10.1111/gfs.70055.

Diaz Vicuna, E., Adams, N., Smith, L. G., Durand, M., van Wagenberg, C., Caron, E., van der Pol van Dasselaar, A., Baumgart, L., Schetelat, S., Sandor, M., Gliga, A., Espagnol, S., Andersen, H. M-L., Borek, R., Jurga, P., van Leuffen, N., Heerkens, J.L. T., Yngvesson, J., Oosterwijk, A., Stokes, J., Forte, C., Hessle, A. 2025. Exploring relationships among different sustainability aspects in innovative livestock systems in Europe. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 23:1, 2601486, doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2025.2601486.

Ahlgren, S., Wirsenius, S., Toräng, P., Carlsson, A., Seeman, A., Behaderovic, D., Kvarnbäck, O., Parvin, N., Hessle, A. 2024. Climate and biodiversity impact of beef and lamb production – a case study in Sweden. Agricultural Systems 219, 104047.

Hessle, A., Dahlström, F., Lans, J., Karlsson, A. H., Carlsson, A. 2024. Beef production systems with dairy x beef heifers based on forage and semi-natural grassland. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section A – Animal Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09064702.2024.2305366.

Hessle, A., Danielsson, R. 2024. Cattle population required for favorable conservation status of management-dependent semi-natural grasslands and forests, and associated increase in enteric methane emissions. Journal for Nature Conservation 78, 126571, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2024.126571.

Versluijs, E., Tofastrud, M., Hessle, A., Serrouya, R., Scasta, D., Wabakken, P., Zimmermann, B. 2024. Virtual fencing in remote boreal forests: performance of commercially available GPS collars for free-ranging cattle. Animal Biotelemetry 12, 33 doi.org/10.1186/s40317-024-00389-8.

Holmström, K., Kumm, K-I., Andersson, H., Hessle, A. 2023. Labour in suckler cow herds – a study on enterprises in southern Sweden. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science https://doi.org/10.1080/09064702.2023.2245400.

Högberg, N., Hessle, A., Lidfors, L., Höglund, J. 2023. The effect of weaning age on animal performance in lambs exposed to naturally acquired nematode infections. Veterinary Parasitology 316, 109900. 

Therkildsen, M., Vestergaard, M, Kargo, M., Keto, L., Ertbjerg, P., Thorkelsson, G., Gudjónsdóttir, M., Kjetså, M., Honkatukia, M., Egelandsdal, B., Svartedal, N., Røe, M., Fikse, W. F., Karlsson, A. H., Hessle, A. 2023. Carcass characteristics of Nordic native cattle breeds. Genetic Resources 4:7, 1-19. 

Kumm, K-I., Hessle, A. 2023. Return of silvipastoral agroforestry in Sweden. Land 12, 940.

Jardstedt, M., Nadeau, E., Nielsen, M. O., Nørgaard, P., Hessle, A. 2020. The effect of feeding roughages of varying digestibility prepartum on energy status and metabolic profiles in beef cows around parturition. Animals doi: 10.3390/ani10030496.

Hessle, A., Jamieson, A. 2026, 2020. Nötkött (Beef). Textbook. Vulkan. ISBN 978-91-519-5730-2 (2020), 238 pp.

Lundström, C. (ed.) 2025. Klimatspelet (The Climate Game). A serious computer game on food production and consumption, climate, and biodiversity. www.klimatspelet.se.

Jamieson, A., Hessle, A. 2021. Hinder och möjligheter för ökad naturbetesdrift ur ett lantbrukarperspektiv – en kunskapssammanställning. (Obstacles and opportunities for increased grazing of semi-natural grasslands from a farmer's perspective  - a knowledge compilation). SustAinimal Report 1, 150 pp. 

Olsson, R. (ed.) 2008.  Mångfaldsmarker. Naturbetesmarker – en värdefull resurs. (Diversity lands. Semi-natural grasslands – a valuable resource). HagmarksMISTRA/CBM. AlfaPrint, Solna. ISBN 978-91-89232-29-7, 2. 240 pp.