Production-related data from cows can be compiled and interpreted using SLU's unique resource Gigacow. "All major research projects begin with collecting data. If we have good data available from the beginning, we can plan better and complete projects earlier", says Tomas Klingström, coordinator for Gigacow.
Now, researchers are using Gigacow to determine what constitutes a good temperament for a dairy cow.
Should we breed for them to be calmer, more active, or more eager to learn? In another project, heat stress in cows is being investigated - a problem that is expected to increase with changing climate.
After five years of data collection and refinement of Gigacow, it has reached a point where it supports more and more projects. Tomas Klingström is an engineer by training and has been involved with SLU Gigacow from the beginning. His career began with biobanks before it became Big Data about cows. He is loaned out part-time as an expert to Växa and Agronod AB.
When he describes the infrastructure, he says:
- In one way, it's enormous and probably the largest of its kind, but in another way, it's tiny. Ingemar Ohlsson and I only work part-time, and then we have a project with SLU IT.
- The reason it works so well is good agreements, partly with Växa, partly with Nordisk Avelsvärdering, and the fact that Swedish farmers are so positive and easy to collaborate with.
One goal of Gigacow is to keep an eye on technology development in Sweden. But also to offer farmers insights and conclusions from the database.
The data is collected via the farm's management system and Växa Kokontrollen, but will be supplemented with more systems such as indoor climate measurements.
Thanks to Gigacow, parameters such as feed, crop production, and climate can be linked to the cows in a herd. This provides fantastic opportunities for researchers.
Tell me more about the project that will investigate temperament in dairy cows!
- A good temperament can be different things depending on how the cow is kept. If it's a farm with a milking pit, milking robots, and so on.
Tomas Klingström also explains that farmers tend to be more forgiving of cows that milk well, which is a problem with today's temperament assessment as it means that traits correlate in a way they shouldn't.
So far, temperament assessment of cows has been done in connection with exterior assessment. The animal owner fills in a survey about the temperament.
Another project will look at how heat stress affects cows.
46% of the research applications that have used SLU Gigacow as support have been approved for funding. That's unusually high.
- The data must be useful for enough projects for a infrastructure investment like this to be defensible, and it's promising that projects that use Gigacow are so often approved.
Funding for Gigacow expires at New Year. How does that feel?
- It feels okay. That's how the research world works. Now it's time to seek new funding. We have achieved our goals, kept to the budget, started contributing to projects, and both farming and the industry appreciate what we do.
- The project has been extended and is approaching five years. I'm doing the things I dreamed of at the beginning of my career.
Gigacow is SLU's initiative for large-scale data collection from dairy farms, a university-wide resource that can also be used by external researchers. Dairy farms have access to a wealth of data from milking systems and the Kokontrollen.
Data is also collected on feed consumption, stable environment, and the genetics of the cows. Gigacow processes the data and enables comparisons between farms.
Two goals of Gigacow:
In the short term, the infrastructure should contribute to increased profitability and sustainability for Sweden's milk producers. In the long term, over a period of 15 years, Gigacow should contribute to genetic basic research not only in cows, but by using quantitative genetics to study polygenic traits and how we can better understand complex traits in both animals and humans. Thanks to the herd size of cows and work with genomic breeding values, cows offer unique opportunities for researchers to study these and how recombination affects heritability.
Gigacow monitors as many cows as in the large EU project SmartCow. That means over 5,000 dairy cows. Gigacow collaborates with 15 farms.
Family: Wife and three children aged 9 months to 7 years.
Animals: No, it's smoother when others own the animals. However, I like animals.
Hobby: My hobby is stock analysis. I never disconnect from numbers. I find it therapeutic to do a stock analysis, which is still limited and becomes finished . . .