Innovative analyses of milk components & sensor data for improved breeding, health, and reproduction

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The development in dairy milk production over the past decades are towards more sensors in use to monitor e.g. udder health of the cows, and offers an opportunity to collect more frequent data on cows health and fertility traits, as well as discover subclinical health issues that in general are challenging to discover. The iKu project aims to improve health and fertility in Norwegian dairy cows by developing new phenotypes and bioindicators based on milk FTIR spectroscopy, together with use of in line recorded data from sensors as well as herd record data from NHRS. These indicators will enable earlier detection of metabolic stress and subclinical disease. New phenotypes that can be used in the routine genetic evaluations in Norwegian Red dairy cattle for prevention of diseases and reproductive failure are of importance. Genomic breeding values will be predicted from the novel phenotypes collected in this project, and correlations to existing phenotypes unravelled.