Long and successful collaboration between academia and industry

Lövsta research and education centre has a herd of 300 dairy cows. The new DeLaval VMS™ V300, donated by DeLaval, gives SLU access to the latest robotic technology and digital milk sampling equipment. This opens for research in new parameters in milk for monitoring of cow health and milk quality.

A DeLaval Herd Navigator™ has also been installed which, automatically detects  when the cows are in heat, if they are at risk of developing mastitis (udder inflammation) and if they have a negative energy balance that needs to be addressed.

DeLaval has had a close collaboration with SLU since the 1960’s. This collaboration will continue to provide farmers with knowledge and new technology also in the future.

Maria Knutson, Wedel, Vice-Chancellor at SLU and Joakim Rosengren, President & CEO at DeLaval toasted in milk and tied a knot to mark the occasion.

“SLU is dependent on research collaboration, development and education – this is what is sometimes called lifelong learning. The modern agricultural environment creates new links between biology and technology and it is extremely important that SLU’s research infrastructure has the latest technology”, says Maria Knutson Wedel, Vice-Chancellor at SLU, who emphasized the importance of strategic collaborations.

“Milk is one of the most important foods in the world, but we must produce the milk in a more sustainable way. The more we can automate agriculture and milk production, the less impact on the environment. DeLaval’s position in the world depends on innovation and it is based on collaborations. The collaboration we have with SLU is incredibly important to us”, says Joakim Rosengren, President & CEO DeLaval.