Grant: Industrial Research Chairs

UBC proudly partners with the Dairy Farmers of Canada and a team of other industrial sponsors working within Canada's dairy sector to support five more years (Years 15 to 20 in total) of research on dairy cattle welfare. UBC's Animal Welfare Program was created as an NSERC Industrial Research Chair in 1997 and has since grown to become the world's leading research group working on dairy cattle welfare. The current proposal builds upon these strong foundations to produce science-based recommendations that dairy producers can use to promote the health, welfare, and productivity of their cattle. Our planned research will focus on important welfare concerns of practical interest to the dairy industry. The five areas are: 1) dietary and management transitions of calves and growing heifers, 2) access to pasture and alternative outdoor areas, 3) reimagining indoor housing for cattle, 4) identification of risk factors for poor cow comfort and disease on commercial farms and, 5) identify simple outcome-based welfare measures for producer self-assessment. The funding from our partners will allow for the creation of a new senior research associate position, with the aim of grooming a suitable candidate for eventual hire as a new faculty member within our cattle welfare team. This new position will cement the Animal Welfare Program's reputation as the world's leading research unit working in this area, and strengthens the position of the Canadian dairy industry in addressing the increasingly important issues around social sustainability of farm practices. Studies will continue to be conducted on commercial dairy farms and at the state-of-the-art UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz, British Columbia, recognized as one of the leading dairy research facilities in the world. This facility is a fully operational dairy farm, managed and designed to support dairy research and technology transfer.