The goal is to improve animal welfare for the cow and her calf in a sustainable way
In June, the EU-funded project TransformDiaryNet kicked off. It is a Horizon Europe project with 26 European partners from 14 countries. Together they will create an ‘innovation hub’, establish 11 national innovation centres and a European knowledge and innovation network to develop and share knowledge about cow-calf interaction across national borders. The main goal is to increase knowledge and use of cow-calf co-operation in milk production throughout Europe.
The project is co-ordinated from Dublin, Ireland, and NMBU, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and Tine are participating from Norway.
Revolutionising dairy farming
To achieve the goal, there are several parts to the project. Existing knowledge will be collated. The next step is to identify the needs of the end users, who are the consumer, the farmer, the cow and the calf.
'The final step is to be able to create innovative ideas and solutions, and to disseminate and utilise the new knowledge,’ says postdoctoral researcher Sabine Anne-Lie Ferneborg at NMBU.
Traditionally, the calf is separated from the cow shortly after birth, affecting the welfare of both cow and calf. TransformDairyNet will help farmers scale up production systems so that the calf can be with the cow or a foster cow for a longer period of time.
The initiative unites farmers, researchers and the industry to promote sustainable dairy farming systems that prioritise animal welfare, environmental sustainability and economic viability.
Separation of cow and calf is an ethical issue
'The separation of cow and calf is a significant animal welfare challenge and an ethical issue. We are delighted to be working with pioneering farmers and others to enable more dairy cows and calves to spend time together across Europe, so that we can ensure we have a dairy farming sector fit for the future,’ says project coordinator Professor Siobhan Mullan of University College Dublin.
Norway has long been one of the leading countries when it comes to research on cow-calf co-operation.
‘We have conducted research on how the practice affects cows and calves, production and behaviour, and how cow-calf interaction can work in the barn and on pasture,’ says Ferneborg.
Research results are disseminated through many channels
FernFerneborg is leading the communication section and also contributes to other parts of the project.
'We will produce material that can be disseminated to end users across Europe, in the form of short summaries of findings, podcasts, videos, webinars and much more. We have already launched a website, newsletter and social media channels,’ says Ferneborg.
It is crucial to ensure that the communication material is available in many languages, so an important part of the work is to translate as much of the material as possible into Norwegian and the other European languages.
- Project homepage TransformDairyNet - EFFAB
- Project page at NMBU
The Norwegian Veterinary Institute is leading the work with Living Labs, while Tine is coordinating the network for Norwegian and Swedish farmers.
‘We are proud to be part of such a large and important project that aims to get research results out to end users so that they can be utilised. We find that farmers are asking for guidelines and advice, and we hope that we can fulfil this need in this project,’ says Ferneborg.
Great interest among Norwegian dairy farmers
According to Ferneborg, the Norwegian production system and the NRF cow are well adapted to cow-calf co-operation, and there is great interest among farmers in Norway. In 2022, about 3 per cent of Norwegian farmers practised cow-calf interaction, and 15 per cent expressed interest in starting it in the future.