PROJECTS
InSiliCow: From digital model to digital twin of dairy cattle farming system
Projet emblématique du métaprogramme #DIGITBIO
2024-2027
The objective of the project is to operationalize the concept of a dairy farm digital twin into an innovating user-friendly online tool, and to establish the proof of concept of its usefulness to study and manage dairy systems
A PhD thesis (STAR) is associated to the projet - Margot Danglot (2025-2027)
EUP AHW
European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare
Eyes & Ears project
2026-2029
Objective: to facilitate the identification, development and validation of on-farm surveillance tools (involving vision and sound monitoring). The project includes 20 partners from 11 EU countries and will start by reviewing and describing the current technologies that are available for both vision and sound monitoring systems and collecting existing and new datasets.
SOLIFE
2023-2026
Objective: to evaluate the long-term effect of various tailored feeding strategies on sows’ performance. Two distinct tailored feeding strategies applied in vivo (in two trials) over three consecutive gestations and four strategies simulated with a nutritional model were carried out. New knowledge about phosphorus requirements for sows is implemented into the existing model to assess the effect of adjusting phosphorus intake to requirement.
A PhD thesis is associated to this project - Clément Ribas (2023-2026).
WinFeed & HARPAGON
2021-2025
Objective: these two projects evaluate the interest and feasability of an individualized feeding for dairy cows. This strategy is based on the adjustment of the concentrate part usually distributed at an automaton.
SOSMART
2023
Objective: to evaluate a learning strategy for a better use of the automatic feeders and welfare improvment of the gestating sows. The sows have to learn to present themselves at the feeder only when they hear an individual sounds. They learned successfully. Aggressivity in front of the feeders is reduced.
SOMOVE
2023-2025
Objective: Development of an automatic video analysis system to measure the individual physical activity of a gestating sow in order to provide a ration adapted to its nutritional needs and to ensure continuous and automated monitoring of its well-being
SOWELL: Integration of the welfare and health of gestating sows from heterogeneous data for precision feeding
2020-2023
Objectives:
1) to update the nutritional model of the gestating sow taking into account temperature and physical activity to calculate more precisely daily and individually energy requirements
2) to record physical activities under different envrionmental conditions
3) to use the behavioral mesurments collected to find welfare indicators
A PhD thesis is associated to this project - Maëva Durand (2020-2023)
Feeding precision for sows (PréciTruie)
2018-2020
Objectives:
1) to understand and report the variability in nutrient requirements among sows and over time
2) to update nutritional models for the gestating and lactating sows to calculate daily and individually their nutrient requirements
3) to test experimentally precision feeding strategies based on energy and lysine adjustments
Use of milk metabolites to predict risk cows - GplusE project
2017
Objectives:
1) to identify milk biomarker phenotypes for production efficiency, health, physiological status, fertility, environmental footprint and animal welfare state
2) to provide data on biomarkers, genotypes and tissues samples for subsequent use in genomic selection, epigenetic studies and development of new management strategies to aid development of more robust and environmentally friendly cows and to promote early detection and prevention of disease.
Alternative feed for dairy cows
Co-products and seaweeds
2016 - 2017
1) Determine the potential of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as a source of feed and protein for dairy cows.
2) Determine the potential of glycerol as an energy source for dairy cows
3) Determine the potential of different species of seaweeds as protein source for dairy cows, and especially their amino acids concentrations and degradability values.
Shelters in Denmark - Horses, sheep, cattle
2016 - 2017
This project is divided into 2 parts:
1) the summer shelter project, concerning sheep, horses, and cattle. The idea is to determine if there is a need for shelters during summer in Denmark, a country where the temperature is often below 20 degrees during this season. The THI (temperature-humidity index) is used as an indicator of welfare.
2) the winter shelter project, concerning only beef cattle. The idea is to determine the shape and structure of the best shelter for beef cattle to optimize their welfare.
Sows' transportation to slaugther
2016 - 2017
This project, ordered by Danish Ministry, aims to identified criteria to characterize sows ready for transportation, to make sure they arrive still "fit" for slaugther at the slaughterhouse. It includes following several trips from farms to slaughtherhouse, with clinical exams at both places and GPS tracking during transport.
Furthermore, thermal conditions inside the truck are actually investigated to determine their possible effect on sows' welfare. The THI (temperature-humidity index) is used as an indicator of welfare.
REPROLAC - Dairy cows
2013 - 2016
During my thesis I investigated extended lactation and individualized feeding as a new strategy for dairy cow production with focus on the relationships between lactation duration, feeding strategy and parity in lactating cows. I researched how an individualized feeding strategy in early lactation affects the productive and reproductive performance of Holstein cows managed for 16 months extended lactation. I also used a lifetime prediction model to determine the effect of lactation duration and parity on cows’ productive and reproductive lifetime performance. The new research findings contribute to the understanding of how to manage Holstein cows during their life taking into account the individual energy needs, the age and the lactations duration to optimize their performance. Publications
Social Housing and Cognition - Calves
2013
Early social housing is known to benefit cognitive development in laboratory animals. Pre-weaned dairy calves are typically separated from their dam immediately after birth and housed alone, but no work to date has addressed the effect of individual housing on cognitive performance of these animals. The aim was to determine the effects of individual versus social housing on two measures of cognitive performance: reversal learning and novel object recognition. The results of these experiments provide the first direct evidence that individual housing impairs cognitive performance in dairy calves. Publications
Fear and social transmission - Horses
2010-2011
The overall aim of the project was to investigate the relationship between fear, learning performance, basal stress levels and social status in horses. The first experiment aimed to evaluate learning performance in horses using positive reinforcement (clicker), to test the horse’s learning capacities and to follow the evolution. The second experiment used a novel object test to observe horse’s reactions towards a new object. It was concluded that the clicker-training was an experience less stressful than the object test (lower heart rate), and that performance in a clicker training test is not related to heart rate responses (=fearfulness) in a novel object test. The less the horse is stressed the more he eats during the object test, and the better is his performance during the clicker-training. Publications
Social needs - Calves
2010
The main aims of the project were to investigate the effect of early social contact and if early social contact to peers or a high milk allowance can reduce the negative consequences of separating the calf from the cow. Indeed, we thought that both, a high milk allowance and social contact to peers can improve the welfare of the calf. For my BSc report, I investigated if the treatment and the weight of the calf can be related to the quantity of concentrates eaten each week. Results show that before weaning, the calves housed alone with high milk allowance ate less concentrates than the other calves housed in pair (with high or low milk allowance) or alone but with low milk allowance. The treatment had also an influence on the weight of the calves. On the high milk allowance calves were bigger, whatever the housing.