Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TransformDairyNet (TransformDairyNet: Working together to upscale Cow-Calf-Contact dairy production and beyond)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-06-01 bis 2025-11-30
This is farming’s defining decade – feeding the world while transitioning to sustainable net zero food production from farm to fork. Dairy is the most important food sector in EU agriculture, present in all Member States. Removing the dairy calf from the dam shortly after birth is dairy’s keynote ethical issue. Providing cow-calf contact (CCC) - allowing calves to stay with their dams or a foster cow for months rather than hours/days, promotes normal, pleasurable cow and calf social behaviour, social skills, social competence and play, championing animal welfare. Importantly, CCC is the most consumer accepted ethical practice for increasing the sustainability of dairy systems.
The current state of the art is that innovative farmers, together with support actors across European countries in response to growing national, societal, consumer and sector needs are developing and applying knowledge in practice to transition to CCC dairy systems. However, the ability of farmers to innovate is influenced by enabling factors at a societal, consumer and sector level, and the ability to weigh up costs and benefits - access to knowledge alone is rarely enough to generate and maintain sustainable innovation. Therefore, transformation to CCC dairy systems is at different stages across Europe and farmers have adapted their own systems to CCC. There is no standard method. There is currently no coordinated European-wide mechanism for sharing this CCC knowledge ready for practice, or development of new CCC knowledge based on the needs, challenges and opportunities of dairy farmers at different stages of CCC innovation.
TransformDairyNet has therefore brought together a multi-actor network to facilitate a tipping point towards wider scale uptake of CCC. TransformDairyNet is a direct response to tackle the urgent needs of farmers, the dairy sector and society to accelerate the transition to a humane and sustainable dairy system.
The objectives of TransformDairyNet are:
1) To accelerate the adoption of CCC systems at scale by mobilising a European Multi-Actor Knowledge and Innovation Network (EKIN) that tackles the most urgent farmer needs and knowledge gaps in CCC systems by fostering cross-pollination of ideas for farmers and support actors at different stages of transformation across Europe.
2) To modernise the sector by bringing science and practice together in the co-generation and sharing of existing CCC knowledge and innovation ready for practice for the distribution of a comprehensive validated package of best CCC practices across the European dairy community.
3) To accelerate dairy innovation through a Living Lab process in National Innovation Practice Hubs mobilised by National Network Facilitators to address farmers’ needs, challenges and opportunities by facilitating the generation of new ideas and funding projects to test and trial innovations on and off farm, including a dedicated Living Lab focused on developing novel sustainability metrics, mitigation and adaptation measures for a pathway towards net zero in CCC dairy systems.
4) To create higher impact by digitalising and sharing TransformDairyNet CCC knowledge ready for practice by co-creating harmonised farmer-facing tools and materials to accelerate the adoption of CCC systems through a comprehensive communication, dissemination and exploitation plan, leveraging validated dairy farmer channels and networks at a regional, national and pan European level.
5) To build capacity, sustain and maximise the impact of TransformDairyNet for the continued acceleration of CCC systems at scale across Europe, by collaborating with EU FarmBook as the go-to European knowledge reservoir for farmers and other support actors, and establish a mechanism for co-generation and sharing of CCC knowledge ready for practice into the future.
The current state of the art is that innovative farmers, together with support actors across European countries in response to growing national, societal, consumer and sector needs are developing and applying knowledge in practice to transition to CCC dairy systems. However, the ability of farmers to innovate is influenced by enabling factors at a societal, consumer and sector level, and the ability to weigh up costs and benefits - access to knowledge alone is rarely enough to generate and maintain sustainable innovation. Therefore, transformation to CCC dairy systems is at different stages across Europe and farmers have adapted their own systems to CCC. There is no standard method. There is currently no coordinated European-wide mechanism for sharing this CCC knowledge ready for practice, or development of new CCC knowledge based on the needs, challenges and opportunities of dairy farmers at different stages of CCC innovation.
TransformDairyNet has therefore brought together a multi-actor network to facilitate a tipping point towards wider scale uptake of CCC. TransformDairyNet is a direct response to tackle the urgent needs of farmers, the dairy sector and society to accelerate the transition to a humane and sustainable dairy system.
The objectives of TransformDairyNet are:
1) To accelerate the adoption of CCC systems at scale by mobilising a European Multi-Actor Knowledge and Innovation Network (EKIN) that tackles the most urgent farmer needs and knowledge gaps in CCC systems by fostering cross-pollination of ideas for farmers and support actors at different stages of transformation across Europe.
2) To modernise the sector by bringing science and practice together in the co-generation and sharing of existing CCC knowledge and innovation ready for practice for the distribution of a comprehensive validated package of best CCC practices across the European dairy community.
3) To accelerate dairy innovation through a Living Lab process in National Innovation Practice Hubs mobilised by National Network Facilitators to address farmers’ needs, challenges and opportunities by facilitating the generation of new ideas and funding projects to test and trial innovations on and off farm, including a dedicated Living Lab focused on developing novel sustainability metrics, mitigation and adaptation measures for a pathway towards net zero in CCC dairy systems.
4) To create higher impact by digitalising and sharing TransformDairyNet CCC knowledge ready for practice by co-creating harmonised farmer-facing tools and materials to accelerate the adoption of CCC systems through a comprehensive communication, dissemination and exploitation plan, leveraging validated dairy farmer channels and networks at a regional, national and pan European level.
5) To build capacity, sustain and maximise the impact of TransformDairyNet for the continued acceleration of CCC systems at scale across Europe, by collaborating with EU FarmBook as the go-to European knowledge reservoir for farmers and other support actors, and establish a mechanism for co-generation and sharing of CCC knowledge ready for practice into the future.
A multi-actor network has been established with 11 National Innovation Practice hubs (NIPs) across 10 countries. Each NIP consists of a range of stakeholders including CCC farmers, emerging CCC farmers, vets, advisors, other supply chain actors such as farm assurance representatives. Each NIP has secured funding for a Living Lab topic as follows:
NIP UK & Ireland; 12 members; UCD facilitator; LL topic- Investigating the benefits to farmer wellbeing in CCC systems
NIP Austria; 21 members; BIOA facilitator; LL topic- Calf Weight Monitoring in Cow-Calf-Contact
NIP (Buffalo) Italy; 13 members; ANASB facilitator; LL topic- Foster and dam rearing of buffalo calves
NIP Denmark; 8 members; ICOEL facilitator; LL topic- Potential for Better income with CCC and Homestead Dairying Systems
NIP Estonia; 9 members; EOFF facilitator; LL topic- Bridging Knowledge on Cow-Calf Contact Systems
NIP France; 95 members; PHY facilitator; Testing Innovative CCC Disseminations
NIP Germany; 20 members; SFS facilitator; LL topic- Development of needs-based support schemes for dairy farms converting to CCC systems
NIP Greece; 14 members; ELGO facilitator; LL topic- Piloting a CCC system in Greece
NIP (Cattle) Italy; 12 members; ANA facilitator; LL topic- Quantitative and qualitative Monitoring of Cow-Calf Contact: A Non-invasive Sensor-Based Approach for Welfare-Oriented Management in Dairy Systems
NIP Norway & Sweden; 17 members; TINE facilitator; LL topic- LessStressLab
NIP Romania; 13 members; RDIB facilitator; LL topic-CCC pilot study under tied stall system
TransformDairyNet has successfully mobilised a wider European multi-actor network of stakeholders interested in CCC. This large network has enabled
- the harvesting of knowledge and gaps relating to views of CCC via an online stakeholder survey
- completion of a review of the impacts of legislation on CCC practices
- ongoing development of a CCC-specific sustainability tool
- ongoing reviewing of the existing private standards and definitions of CCC
In addition, TransformDairyNet has conducted a systematic review of the animal welfare, economic and societal impact of different types of CCC.
NIP UK & Ireland; 12 members; UCD facilitator; LL topic- Investigating the benefits to farmer wellbeing in CCC systems
NIP Austria; 21 members; BIOA facilitator; LL topic- Calf Weight Monitoring in Cow-Calf-Contact
NIP (Buffalo) Italy; 13 members; ANASB facilitator; LL topic- Foster and dam rearing of buffalo calves
NIP Denmark; 8 members; ICOEL facilitator; LL topic- Potential for Better income with CCC and Homestead Dairying Systems
NIP Estonia; 9 members; EOFF facilitator; LL topic- Bridging Knowledge on Cow-Calf Contact Systems
NIP France; 95 members; PHY facilitator; Testing Innovative CCC Disseminations
NIP Germany; 20 members; SFS facilitator; LL topic- Development of needs-based support schemes for dairy farms converting to CCC systems
NIP Greece; 14 members; ELGO facilitator; LL topic- Piloting a CCC system in Greece
NIP (Cattle) Italy; 12 members; ANA facilitator; LL topic- Quantitative and qualitative Monitoring of Cow-Calf Contact: A Non-invasive Sensor-Based Approach for Welfare-Oriented Management in Dairy Systems
NIP Norway & Sweden; 17 members; TINE facilitator; LL topic- LessStressLab
NIP Romania; 13 members; RDIB facilitator; LL topic-CCC pilot study under tied stall system
TransformDairyNet has successfully mobilised a wider European multi-actor network of stakeholders interested in CCC. This large network has enabled
- the harvesting of knowledge and gaps relating to views of CCC via an online stakeholder survey
- completion of a review of the impacts of legislation on CCC practices
- ongoing development of a CCC-specific sustainability tool
- ongoing reviewing of the existing private standards and definitions of CCC
In addition, TransformDairyNet has conducted a systematic review of the animal welfare, economic and societal impact of different types of CCC.
TransformDairyNet has made significant progress of impact through mobilising an exceptional network of CCC farmers and other stakeholders, effective use of digital media and DEC activities and creation of a digital sustainability assessment tool. We have learnt first-hand from our farmers- in particular, how they have solved the challenges they faced when starting CCC, from maximising saleable milk to reducing weaning stress to marketing. Further, through our survey, we have harvested information from beyond the NIP network that incorporates attitudes and practices. Finally, we have created our own new knowledge through the Living Labs and have successfully started to disseminate this information in accordance with the DEC plan, providing translations into the partner languages as required. We have made good progress towards our commitments to the “European Green Deal & Farm to Fork objectives” through the development of the CCC-specific sustainability tool (WP4) and our forthcoming pilot data collection in NO, UK, AT will identify carbon reduction practices suitable for CCC farms. In addition, our work in WP3 identifying legislation influences on CCC uptake (complete) as well as on existing assurance standards for CCC contributes to consumer transparency through welfare labelling.