The ruminant production program aims to support the dairy and beef cattle sector in incorporating research-based strategies to produce milk and meat sustainably.
Reduction in antibiotic use
One of the great challenges of the coming years is to work on strengthening and improving the relationship between the dairy and meat production sectors. As such, it is important that research is done to improve the vitality of calves born on dairy farms and subsequently fattened on farms to produce meat. Critical points in this area include the management of and nutrition around the weaning of calves, reduced antibiotics use, the identification of new markers of the nutritional and health status of animals, and the regulation of ruminant metabolism during periods of stress such as transport and mixing of animals.
Within the challenge of reducing the use of antibiotics, work is being done to develop new recombinant proteins with antimicrobial action as alternatives to antibiotics, as well as new immunomodulatory molecules. Work is also being done to isolate and identify new probiotic/prebiotic agents, as well as on the use of colostrum or transitional milk to prevent diseases and improve intestinal immunity.
Reducing environmental impact
As part of reducing the environmental impact of dairy cows, the program is also working on nutritional strategies such as precision feeding, the use of diets that help reduce the environmental impact of livestock activity, and the evaluation of different food additives that improve performance. In this context, work is being done to develop new enzymes to improve digestibility and feed efficiency. The program also collaborates with other IRTA research groups such as the extensive crops group, interacting with forage production and field fertilization with different fractions of cattle slurry, or with the sustainability group in biosystems for the treatment of livestock manure or the analysis of the life cycle in the different nutrition and management strategies proposed. And in the case of beef cattle, work is being done on new feeding and management strategies to reduce methane emissions, as well as optimizing the use of drinking water to reduce the water footprint of fattening calves.
