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Increasing Productivity and Quality in Forage-based Cattle Production

SusCatt aims to evaluate the transition to high forage and pasture diets for European cattle, focusing on productivity, product quality, animal health and welfare, economic performance, resource use efficiency, and consumer appreciation. Preliminary results suggest that including herbs in grazing pastures reduces methane emissions and crossbreed steers produce heavier carcasses. The project contributes to SusAn research objectives by converting non-edible feedstuffs into valuable protein sources, reducing reliance on human edible food, and minimizing emissions to soils, water, and the atmosphere. Additionally, it aims to produce animal products of high quality that represent good value for consumers and the processing industry. The project addresses the three pillars of sustainability (economy, environment, and society) by assessing profitability, running life cycle assessments, and evaluating nutritional quality and consumer acceptance. Transnational collaboration allows for exchange of knowledge and competence, pooling of data, and broad implementation of results. Stakeholders, including farmers and farmers' associations, are involved in data collection and dissemination. The research outcomes are validated under practical conditions along the whole value-added chain, and the project focuses on animal and farm-level analysis with some regional and national-level modeling and analysis. The dissemination and communication strategy includes stakeholder surveys to ensure wide dissemination and target consumers, policy makers, and producers.

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Increasing Productivity and Quality in Forage-based Cattle Production

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  1. SusCattIncreasing productivity, resource efficiency and product quality to increase the economic competitiveness of forage and grazing based cattle production systems Håvard Steinshamn

  2. Project description SusCatt aims to evaluate a transition to high forage and pasture diets for European cattle on: • Productivity, product quality, animal health and welfare, and economic performance • Resource use efficiency and environmental impacts, both assessed experimentally, by modelling and life cycle analysis • Consumers’ appreciation

  3. Preliminaryresults Too soon for many results but suggestion that: • Herb inclusion in grazing pastures tends to reduce enteric methane from dairy cows • Dairybeef crossbreed steers produced heavier carcasses, more suited to the market, than pure dairy steers on forage/pasture

  4. Contribution to SusAn research objectives : Which is the contribution of your research to SusAnobjectives The main hypotheses in SusCattare that transition to high forage and non-food diets will enhance: • product quality • animal health and welfare • resource-use efficiency • consumer acceptability

  5. Contribution to SusAn research objectives : Which is the contribution of your research to SusAnobjectives • SusAn: Consider opportunities for converting non-edible feedstuffs into valuable human edible protein sources and other animal products SusCatt • reducing reliance on human edible food • increasing reliance of forage crops • recycling wastes and by-products from food, drink and energy industries as animal feeds

  6. Contribution to SusAn research objectives : Which is the contribution of your research to SusAnobjectives • Susan: minimise emissions to soils and water and to the atmosphere SusCatt • maximising output by greater integration of beef and dairy production • exploiting legumes to reduce the environmental impact and enhancing the nutritive value of forage (and other) crops • avoiding feeds with a high carbon foot print, due to land use change or transportation

  7. Contribution to SusAn research objectives : Which is the contribution of your research to SusAnobjectives • Susan: produce animal products which are of high quality and represent good value for money for consumers and the processing industry SusCatt • producing milk and beef to enhance rather than challenge our health

  8. Research Impact on the 3 pillars of sustainability: Does the project adequately address the different pillars? How do the different pillars contribute to the aim of your project? • Economy • We calculate the profitability of the cattle systems we study and compare with benchmark for the region • Environment • We run LCA the cattle systems we study and compare with benchmark for region • Society • Assess the nutritional quality of milk and meat from our alternativeproduction systems and identify consumers knowledge and acceptance

  9. Research Impact on the 3 pillars of sustainability: How relevant are the links made between the pillars? Economic and environmental assessments are integrated in some our surveys

  10. Transnational collaboration: What is the added value of transnational collaboration? • Similar challenges, but different solutions appropriate for our 6 countries • Exchange of knowledge and competence • Analysis of samples (meat and milk) in the same laboratory • Data from all partners pooled for economic and environmental assessment in a common approach

  11. Transnational collaboration: Is the transnational collaboration beneficial for broad implementation of the results? • Dissemination • Challenges tend to be system based rather than specific to each country – solution from some partners are highly relevant to farms in other countries (e.g. solutions relating to Italian intensive dairying are appropriate throughout Europe )

  12. Multi actor approach: Is there a strategy to involve relevant stakeholders? • Data collection in the participatory research and surveys are done in co-operation with farmers and farmers association • Dissemination – Workshops and survey for identifying methods for wider dissemination • Messages targeting consumers and policy makers, as well as producers

  13. Multi actor approach: Are research outcomes validated under practical conditions along the whole value added chain? • Some of our outcomes are based on farm practices and in some cases, producers are milk or meat selling directly to consumers • Work is likely to extended to include cheese making in UK

  14. Cross-scale approach: In how far does it make sense in the particular research project to target the different levels? How relevant are the interactions seen between the levels? • Focus is on animal and farm level • Modelling and analysis on regional and national level in the our system analysis work package • Careful with extrapolation

  15. Dissemination and communication strategy: Is there strategy for exploiting the potential of the projects results? • Stakeholder surveys

  16. Dissemination and communication strategy: Do you disseminate the projects results via Open Data? • We aim to target dissemination to multiple audiences • Academic papers and conference presentations • Technical notes aimed at the farming industry • Policy and practice notes • Consumer information relating to food quality and health • All will be open access and actively distributed to appropriate recipients

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