Nuffield #16 Take Those Filthy British Clothes Off Before Entering The Swedish Shed
One early morning start and I flew into the Swedish capital of Stockholm, catching the train to Uppsala. Uppsala is the fourth biggest city in Sweden, and is a short train journey from its bigger neighbour. As a university town it has a big student population, and SLU- the “agricultural” university- is home to Sweden’s only vet school.
It is also the centre of Sweden’s cow calf contact research, and this summer hosted a week long short course on the biology of lactation of cows suckling calves. I’m lucky to have been asked to join a virtual group of early career CCC researchers, and many of them were in Uppsala a few months ago.
Uppsala Cathedral, the centre of the Lutheran faith in Sweden
Claire- a PhD student at SLU- picked me up from the train station, as there is no transport link to SLU’s farm facility. The university has a herd of 250 Holstein and Swedish Red dairy cows, and also a shed full of pigs. Another shed is stocked with chickens for specific research purposes; I guess one of the benefits of birds for a budgetary and funding perspective is that their short lifecycle and the ease of buying chicks means that you only need to have them there when you have a live trial. I was told that the shed was full at the moment with hens on an insect feed trial, something that I was quick to let my fellow scholar Olivia know about, as her Nuffield looks at using alternative protein sources to feed farm animals (in particular pigs and poultry).
The Swedish dairy industry has similarities to Norway, but also some key differences. Quota ended here a while back, which means that the current average herd size is around 90 cows. Like the UK there is a trend for fewer, bigger farms, with the national herd staying the same size.
Tie stall barns still exist here, but they are being phased out, which is contributing to the consolidation of the industry into those bigger farms. Sweden is also seeing an influx of Dutch dairy farmers migrating away from their strict new agricultural restrictions. I also saw this in Denmark; it’s a fairly exciting prospect for the Swedish industry as these will be skilled farmers.
The research barn from above, this group of cows are part of a nutritional trial
There are many regional milk buyers, but Arla dominate in this part of Sweden. A typical milk price sold to Arla would be 3kr/ litre (equivalent to about 30ppl), and organic farms get about 50% more. There are more organic and more robot farms here than we would see in the UK, and access to pasture is a legal requirement. This ranges from two months in the north to four months in the south. It is set at a certain number of hours per day, which works for tie stall farms as they can let the cows out between milkings.
There is a good market in Sweden for bull and dairy beef calves, and because of an emphasis on biosecurity surplus heifer calves may also enter the red meat supply chain. They are finished around two years old as Swedes prefer red meat to the pink meat I saw in Denmark.
Biosecurity really is respected here. Everyone signs in to the research barn, and there are strict rules about entry. Some people are required to shower in depending on their recent visit history, and we all changed clothes, washed hands, and donned new boots. It made my biosecurity overboots look positively revolting, and I have to admit its the first time I’ve stripped down to my bra in front of a Nuffield host (Scandinavians!). There’s good reason for this strictness and it pays off- the national dairy herd is Johne’s free through strict controls and eradication programmes. And farmers in the UK are surprised when you disinfect your boots at a visit!
Cow and calf enjoying post-weaning contact along the fenceline
SLU started their CCC research in 2018/19 and are now on their fifth batch of cow calf pairs. The most recent trial has looked at differences between weaning at four and six months, and access to pasture. The last group of calves were weaned last week, and currently have contact with the cows along a 1km fenceline where they can touch but not suckle. The study is gathering data on behaviour and also on biochemical markers through blood and urine sampling. Interestingly one aspect of the work is seeing if the large volumes of milk that the calves consumer influences their glucose levels and whether it induces some sort of pre-diabetic state.
Heifers- a mixture of CCC and conventionally reared
All of the cows at SLU are on a robot system, and the shed is split to allow difference studies to run side by side. It is set up for lots of feed trials as nutritional research is a big area. The milk from the robot accessed by the CCC cows is being diverted and pasteurised, and the team are selling it through a vending machine on campus. We had some to try and it was very creamy and delicious.
CCC milk sold through a vending machine on campus
A recent study here has shown that there are at least 12 CCC farms in Sweden, out of around 3,000 dairy farms. Foster calf systems have existed here for decades and are accepted by the industry. The trials at Uppsala have drawn attention from farmers; a mix of responses from farmers who are interested in CCC but need more information, those that think it is interesting but not for them, and those that are vocal in their opposition to it.
Similarly, responses from the public have been split. The department has uploaded a video about the most recent trial on their Facebook page and they have turned off comments. I clicked translate on them, and they are three main responses. Those who think its brilliant (lots of heart eye emojis), those who are going with a “of course this should happen why are you even bothering to research something so obvious”, and a hard line anger from those who say that dairy farming of any type is exploitative, environmentally destructive, and a form of rape and torture.
I was really impressed by the condition and temperament of these calves, who were grazing a productive clover rich sward. Pasture at SLU is for nutrition not just exercise
The robots in Uppsala don’t have any challenges with unequal quarter fill in the suckled cows, which may reflect the type and model of robot compared to that on the commercial farms. The data collected has shown that the calves vary in their quarter preference through the suckling period. There is some cross suckling, and some cows have been shown to “keep” more milk back for the calves and give less to the robot. Behavioural analysis shows that although cows suckle other calves, there is more close contact (what we would probably call loving contact) with their own calves. Cross suckling happens more often when the calves are kept in their kindergarten and the cows access them rather than when the cows and calves are always together.
The creep or kindergarten area for calves at SLU. They no longer access it so it has less bedding than when it was in use. Apparently the calves could get quite fast running up and down!
Reproductive outcomes have varied between cohorts with some showing better fertility and some worse.
We visited some of the heifers that had come through the system and they were very quiet and friendly, showing that CCC doesn’t have to lead to feral calves if you handle them well.
While I didn’t see suckling calves at SLU, it was an excellent opportunity to see their set up and to spent time with some of the world’s foremost CCC researchers. It’s a small group of people who are closely linked, and I feel very privileged to have been given their time to learn about the research.
The work here is strengthening my belief in CCC as a concept, but its also a reminder that it isn’t a silver bullet solution to dairy’s challenges. There will always be people who see any use of animals as unethical, and a lack of understanding of the nuances of managing animals (and the economics of changing systems) means that there will be a lack of patience for the rate of change or for a considered and evidence -led approach to it. Also, any change that reduces output per cow will increase GHG emissions per litre, so there is a consideration that ethical improvements through CCC may actually worsen the carbon footprint if it isn’t routinely coupled with other efficiencies e.g. better slaughter weight of beef from the dairy herd, lower replacement rates, or better health and performance. Sustainability has a range of metrics, so we need to work out where CCC sits and how it impacts other aspects.
I’m writing this from a ferry somewhere in the Baltic Sea, in transit from Stockholm to Helsinki. Tomorrow we dock and I will catch a train to Kuopio for my final visit of the trip.
Swedish islands
