A part of the negative climate impact from dairy production can be ascribed to diseases that reduce efficiency and longevity of the cows. Disease complexes like mastitis, metabolic diseases and claw lesions can be prevented using a number of different preventive measures. However, research shows that these preventive measures are not used frequently enough by farmers.
The possible explanations are that the occurrence of diseases as well as the financial losses associated with them are underestimated, furthermore, the preventive measures are too general and are not adjusted to the individual farmer’s situation.
To motivate the farmer to improve herd health, a monitoring system based on blood and milk biomarkers will be developed as well as a tool to estimate more precise prevalence of disease and better estimates of both failure and preventive cost associated with diseases.
The project will be linked to the GUDP project “KlimaKS” initiated spring 2022 involving 25 dairy herds and 3.000 cows. There will be several opportunities for thesis projects focusing on different aspects within the KlimaKS project. Activities could include herd visits/interviews, quantifying disease and preventive cost, analytical work on development of a monitoring system for disease detection etc.
To be decided in agreement with the supervisor.
Department of Animal- and Veterinary Sciences, AU Viborg - Forskningscenter Foulum, DK-8830 Tjele.
The master thesis could be any of 30, 45 or 60 ECTS.
Prerequisites: an interest in data analysis is required. The MSc-study will become part of a research team in a collaborative with an on-going project. The MSc student may be invited to co-author a scientific publication.
