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Impact & Dissemination
Impact & Dissemination
Expected impact:
TechGen4Health has strong impact on enhancing animal health and welfare of cattle kept in grazing systems. In this regard, the impact on science, practical agriculture, the environment and the public/society are addressed in various ways. In all these areas, TechGen4Health aims on the prevention, detection, assessment, and management of animal health and welfare regarding the detection of endoparasitic burden in grazing cows, also helping authorities to define their policies. Due to the results, innovations and (practical) technical tools generated and developed in the framework of TechGen4Health, “new doors will be opened” stimulating the expansion of pasture-based dairy farming in a broad European context, with all associated favourable effects of grazing on certain welfare indicators.
Impact on science: Thanks to the strong networking among all project partners across country borders, comprehensive databases regarding health and infection traits and respective indicators, genetic parameters for infections and resilience in different breeds, environmental characteristics and economic parameters, will be generated. These all-encompassing databases will contribute to many international publications and scientific conference presentations, attracting the endoparasite topic in the context of cattle management in grazing systems. Developed methods to predict endoparasite resistance (e.g., statistical models for genomic predictions, MIR milk equations) and respective software packages can be used by researchers from other institutions, broadening the research of “endoparasite topics”. The structured PhD/master student education (Annex III) will stimulate young researchers to enhance their scientific ideas.
Impact on practical agriculture: TechGen4Health develops technology-based early warning systems for the early detection of endoparasite infestations, ultimately improving the cow health and welfare status (and productivity). These are sensors and technologies that are easy to integrate into the daily and routine farm management. Respective tool applications imply only limited extra labour for the dairy cattle farmer. Further benefits can be derived from milk monitoring applications in commercial milk recording laboratories, enabling the analyses of MIR, antibodies and lactoferrin content. Prompt indications in milk regarding endoparasite infections will stimulate farmers to participate at official milk recording schemes. Breeding impact, i.e., improved endoparasite resistance through the application of genomic tools, and the identification of cows with high lactoferrin content, (antiparasitic effect especially in mother-bonded calf rearing), imply sustainable impact from the transgenerational perspective. Ultimately, due to the overwhelming effect of endoparasite infections on economy, TechGen4Health contributes to increased competitiveness of dairy and dual-purpose cattle farming in grazing systems.
Impact on the environment: TechGen4Healh contributes to the limitation of anthelmintics in cattle husbandry. Hence, resistances as well as contaminations of water, soil and soil-life with anthelmintics, will be reduced. Additionally, the developed manure treatment methods have strong impact, i.e., lower emission of nutrients into the environment. Technology-based analyses of grassland parameters will improve grassland utilisation and productivity, reduce endoparasite infestation of pastures and contribute to fewer bare patches and more biodiversity in the grassland vegetation.
Impact on the public/society: Improved knowledge on endoparasite resistance will stimulate cow milk production in grazing systems. Keeping more cows on pasture perfectly reflects the demand of the society. An increasing variety of products (milk, meat) can be offered that meet the consumer demand for improved animal welfare and health in the context of animal-based food production in a “natural grazing environment”.
Dissemination and practical implementation
The aim of WP8 is the validation and economic evaluation of the preventive health management tools and the practical implementation of dissemination activities. A pilot system for validation and economic evaluation of preventive health management tools from all partners will be implemented on LSMU Baisogala AHC dairy research farm. The results will be decisive for the future adoption and integration of these tools into routine dairy farming processes. An economic evaluation of the health management tools for detecting infections in cattle herds will be conducted. The evaluation compares the costs and benefits of these tools, assessing their impact on herd health, productivity, and overall farm profitability by applying a cost-benefit analysis model.
Subsequently, the predictions and technical implementations developed by LSMU will be finally evaluated for applicability in selected research herds in the partner countries. Dissemination will promote the adoption of the proposed innovative tools by sharing them with stakeholders, including farmers, professionals, and policymakers. Workshops will be organised in each country.
Project organisation and communication
WP9 focusses on the project organisation (e.g. regular video and face-to-face meetings), the establishment of a data management platform and this homepage here. Regular video conferences and project meetings will be used to discuss project progress, interim results and problems in detail.