Following the decision that AU Viborg - Research Centre Foulum will be hosting the three new study programmes - Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science and Agrobiology - the Department of Animal Science at Aarhus University has been busy. The reason for this is that it plays a key role in the establishment of the new study programmes. The department has now also changed its name to the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences (ANIVET) and implemented a reorganisation.

Researchers from Aarhus University suggest to develop protocols for assessing animal welfare in natural national parks with a focus on nutrition, environment, health and behaviour. The suggested approach is transparent and systematic and allow for documentation of the welfare of the animals over time. Implementation of the approach across countries can be a platform for international knowledge sharing between projects.

Aarhus University is heading a new project to investigate whether willow and hemp have potential as bioactive feed additives, which can inhibit methane emission from cattle. The project is an Organic RDD project supported by ICROFS, which started this year and runs until 2024. The project is carried out in collaboration with the Innovation Centre for Organic Farming, Ny Vrå Bioenergy, Bio2Products, Danish Technological Institute and SEGES.

Aarhus University leads a new GUDP project (KlimaKS) which will contribute with new tools to help the farmer in his efforts to prevent health problems in dairy cows. This will be beneficial to the cows’ welfare, the farmer’s economy and not least the climate.

Aarhus University is one of the partners in an EU project, R4D (Resilience for Dairy), aiming at contributing to the social, economic and environmental development of European milk production.

Cattle can in some situations learn to eat weeds directly in the field using a relatively simple method of adaptation.