PhD student Victoria Ekenberg

I have always been very interested in animal sciences and animal breeding. I did my Agronomist (Husdjurs inriktning) and Masters education in Animal science at SLU in Uppsala. In my master thesis as an Agronomist I focused on simulating herd- and economic effects when using different crossbreeding practices in a dairy herd.

After finishing my education as an agronomist I have worked as a breeding advisor at Växa Sverige in Västerbotten, as well as the CEO at my family’s business in the trade sector. I have since my education at SLU also been involved in advising and producing breed statistics for a dog breed club in Sweden.

In Swedish food production, dairy herds are of high importance, not only for the food they produce but also for the ecosystem services that they provide. Increased use of beef bull semen for insemination of dairy cows is a climate-efficient way to increase beef production from Swedish herds, and thereby contribute to a higher degree of food self-sufficiency in Sweden. It can also benefit the profitability for beef and milk producers, but it requires that the crossbred calves function well in production, both at birth and later during the growth period. How easily the crossbred calves are born and their production characteristics are influenced, among other things, by sex, breed combination and the sire's breeding value. The selection of bulls for artificial insemination is made largely at the Nordic level today, but the production systems for beef production differ substantially between the Nordic countries. In the research project I work with we expect to give a clearer picture of current and future demand for different types of calves from dairy herds intended for beef production, and further describe the added value of these calves. This knowledge is of importance so that further strategies for beef breed sires used on dairy cattle can be developed.

I´m interested in learning more about the possibilities of breeding practices, and how breeding can be used for the animals in a sustainable way. To achieve sustainability in breeding means that many things needs to be considered. From my perspective, one important thing is to engage and get all breeders/farmers, advisors and businesses involved and working together. In order to manage that, it is crucial to not forget the overall picture. So in the end I try to ask, how can we make sure all benefit from working with it, both animals, farmers/breeders and society.

I am glad for the opportunity to through my PhD project get to learn more about the work underlying the evaluation of breeding animals. As well as to be part of developing breeding indexes and practices to fit the animals, farmers/businesses and also the societies needs even better. Being part of SustAinimal Academy gives a great opportunity for maintaining that important overall picture, and for more collaborations and possibilities to gain and spread knowledge.

I believe that animals are important for our future food production. I aim at contributing to more knowledge on how we can be better at considering the usage of different animal types and their strengths in different systems, in order to have a more resilient livestock system for the future.