Daiana de Oliveira

I am Professor of Farm Animal Welfare, with a background in Animal Sciences. My research spans various species, encompassing both ruminants and monogastrics, and extends across both intensive and extensive farming systems. Throughout my career, I have been captivated by a fascination with understanding individual animals. This passion has driven me to explore research topics related to positive welfare, including posing fundamental questions regarding their behavioural development and investigating the emotional realm of animals, and how their environment can shape their quality of life. I am also interested in practical applications, focusing on how to translate our understanding of animal needs into tangible outcomes at the farm level, evaluating housing and management systems that may support such objectives. Moreover, addressing animal welfare within the broader context of sustainability and climate change is also a key aspect of my research agenda. I am dedicated to collaborating with stakeholders and policymakers to advance these objectives.

Djurvälfard, Djurskydd, lantbruksdjur, hållbarhet, klimatförändring

Research

To synthesize my research work, I have it clustered into three main different research lines, that are connected and built on each other:

 a) Positive welfare & Animal emotions

b) Early life programming- behaviour and health

c) Sustainable production systems & Animal Welfare

Currently, I am engaged in various projects at both national and European levels. Here is a brief overview of the ongoing initiatives:

PATHWAYS: In this project, I hold the position of Project manager and  collaborate with Dr. Laurence Smith in its coordination. I am also Task-leader of European Stakeholders engagement (Multi-actor platform). PATHWAYS is a substantial Horizon 2020 project with a budget of 9 million Euros, dedicated to fostering sustainability within the European livestock sector's supply and production chains. Spanning from 2021 to 2026, the project aims to identify and promote sustainable practices throughout the industry. With an impressive consortium of 32 partners hailing from 12 countries, PATHWAYS brings together universities, institutes, and diverse stakeholders who are collectively committed to advancing sustainability in the livestock sector. To learn more about the project, you can visit its website at PATHWAYS project

Re-Livestock: In this project I am enrolled in the Animal Welfare task, which is co-shared with more 2 colleagues (Harry Blokhuis and Lindsay Whistance). Re-Livestock (Facilitating innovation for resilient livestock farming systems) is a large Horizon Europe project with a budget of over 10 million Euros and 37 partners including from universities, institutes, and stakeholders across Europe and Australia.  Re-Livestock objective is to assess and promote the adoption of innovative practices across various scales (animal, herd, farm, sector, and region) to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock farming systems. Additionally, the project aims to enhance the resilience of these systems in the face of potential climate change impacts. My task in this project is to identify hazards and indicators that may harm animal welfare, validate the analysis in current systems, and assess innovative practices to mitigate adverse effects of climate change. Read more here: Re-Livestock project

EFSA- Risk based model for  dairy herd welfare- field data collection

The Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy underscore the importance of higher animal welfare standards in future EU agricultural policy. As part of this, there's a plan to tie CAP financial support to Member States with welfare indicators. However, there's currently a lack of simple, reliable indicators of welfare that can be easily collected across the EU to pinpoint farms at risk of poor welfare. While mortality has been suggested as an indicator, it alone isn't sensitive enough as a welfare proxy.Responding to the European Commission's request, the Animal Welfare team at EFSA's BIOHA Unit developed a risk-based model for assessing dairy cow welfare at the farm level. This model, detailed in EFSA AHAW Panel (2023), incorporates additional variables alongside mortality. While it holds potential for EU dairy welfare monitoring, it needs testing with data from commercial herds before application. The ultimate aim with this project is to refine this risk-based model to serve as a foundation for future monitoring of dairy cow welfare in the EU.

The individual matters: linking personality in dairy cattle to health, performance and welfare

Research team: Daiana de Oliveira (lead), Harry Blokhuis, Carlos Hernandez, Linda Keeling, Hanne Lovlie, Kirste McCrea (PhD student)

The current dairy system is designed for an average animal, yet cows exhibit significant individual variation in physiology and behaviour. Consequently, some individuals may be less adapted to their environment and care provided. To foster sustainable dairy farming, which considers economic, environmental, and social aspects, a focus on individual efficiency, longevity, and high quality of life is crucial. Understanding individuality is paramount to achieving these goals. This project aims to expand and refine research on dairy cattle personality, generating practical knowledge with potential farm applications. By understanding cows personalities, we seek to promote improved welfare and health in dairy cattle. Our objectives include understanding how personality develops throughout a cow's life and exploring whether providing a more stimulating and varied environment during rearing encourages the development of adaptive traits, resulting in resilient and robust animals. A second goal is to identify personality traits that could serve as predictors of risks, such as health issues, thereby enhancing overall welfare.

FUnctional Length of Life (FULL) - a better indicator of the length of life of dairy cows

Research team: Nils Fall (lead), Daiana de Oliveira, Karin Alvåsen, Lisa Ekman, Ulf Emanuelson 

 The project aims to develop FULL (Functional Length of Life), a metric for assessing the quality of life of dairy cows by combining their lifespan with their functional well-being in the herd environment. We will gather data on events affecting a cow's welfare and quantify their impact in terms of magnitude and duration. Using expert knowledge elicitation, we plan to identify these events and their consequences, applying this information to Swedish dairy herd data to analyze FULL's distributional properties and ensure its validity. The outcome will be a metric that not only measures a dairy cow's length of life (LL) but also adjusts for estimated welfare effects, providing a more accurate estimation of her functional life. Additionally, we anticipate uncovering systematic effects associated with FULL, shedding light on variations and its correlation with dairy farm economics. This project directly addresses the expressed needs of Swedish dairy farmers, offering promising prospects for implementation and significant improvements in animal welfare and productivity.

Toilet training: an innovative approach towards increased welfare and sustainability of dairy farming

Research team: Harry Blokhuis (lead), Daiana de Oliveira, Elke Hartmann, Else Veerbek, Jan Langbein, Anette Wichman

Early research in toilet training for cattle shows potential for improving animal welfare and benefiting the dairy industry and consumer perceptions. While efforts have been made in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada, there's a lack of published work on extending toilet training from urination to defecation in cattle. This gap presents practical challenges, such as the need for re-training older animals. To address this, we aim to provide evidence-based suggestions for toilet-training heifers, drawing on expertise from dairy industry stakeholders and scientists specializing in livestock farming, animal welfare assessment, and animal cognition and training. Our project aims to achieve three main objectives: Firstly, to identify the best practices for toilet training and evaluate the trainability of defecation behaviour in heifers. Secondly, to assess the retention of toileting behaviour over time and measure its effects on cleanliness and animal welfare. Lastly, to explore how toilet training influences other cognitive abilities and learning in heifers.

Commissions

- Member of the Management Team of the Welfare Quality Network. The network consists of previous members of the Welfare Quality® project and works to maintain and update the assessment protocols and to foster relevant research in animal welfare assessment website

- Animal welfare expert at EURCAW Ruminants & Equines (European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare - EURCAW ruminants & equines