Animal Science, Production and Welfare Division
The objective of the research is increased profitability, safe food production, employment and value creation in Norway.
The division educates and does research related to farm animal husbandry. Veterinary studies like farm animal health and farm animal nursing are important. Within farm animal production, precision livestock farming is essential, with focus on animal welfare and efficient production.
The research work contributes with knowledge about efficient feed production, grazing, optimal animal nutrition, within satisfactory animal environment to meet ethological needs. The objective is increased profitability, safe food production, employment and value creation in the whole country.
Head of Division: Geir Næss
Research areas
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Selected Research Projects
EnMac is part of a regional strategy that focuses on competence building in blue-green innovation in northern Norway and other areas of great importance to Norwegian politics and business. EnMac is based on research results from the consortium's long-term collaboration on the use of macroalgae as a feed source for ruminants.
The aim of the ZEC project is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from cowsheds by converting CH4 to CO2 through catalytic combustion of methane produced by the cattle. Utilizing the heat of combustion for energy purposes on the farm is part of the scope.
Cooperation is required to chart the course towards a future where we together become better at the exploitation of our natural resources, for example when it comes to food security and climate change. A coordination process between business, expertise and the public sector has therefore resulted in BGINN - Blue-Green Innovation Centre.
The main goal of the project is to generate new knowledge that can contribute to the optimization of grazing in dairy herds with automatic milking.
Increased concerns on global population rise and higher competition between humans and animals for foods have urged use to identify alternative feeding materials for animals to establish a sustainable and more profitable livestock sector in the future.
As seaweeds are an integral component of the Norwegian coastal ecosystems, this project will evaluate the impacts of seaweed-based diets on growth characteristics, health status and metabolic and endocrine function, and farm animals' overall production potential. Such information should help us assess whether seaweeds will serve as reliable feeding material for livestock production in the future.
This project aims to develop and implement new educational and research activities in alternative feeding strategies via global cooperation (staff and student mobility) to create a more productive, sustainable, and environment-friendly livestock sector in the future.
The project primarily focuses on developing teaching methods and research programmess on three major alternative feed sources: by-products and forest biomass, insects (utilizing bio-wastes), and underutilized aquatic plants.
In FarmMERGE, we have merged several large human and livestock databases to investigate whether there is a connection between farmers' health and work environment, and the health and welfare of their animals.