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We work with cow-calf-contact-systems in the international CORE Organic Cofund project GrazyDaiSy

Research on 'Cows and calves together' in GrazyDaiSy

The GrazyDaiSy project has participation from fifteen partners in eight different countries aims at developing innovative, resilient, and sustainable organic, grazing-based dairy systems in different economic and agro-ecological contexts within Europe. The overall project aim of GrazyDaiSy is to develop innovative, resilient, and sustainable organic, grazing-based dairy systems in different European economic and agro-ecological contexts, integrating the rearing of cows with young stock, e.g. allowing mother-infant contact.

One GrazyDaiSy focus area is the rearing of cows with young stock, e.g. allowing mother-infant contact.

The project sets out to address knowledge gaps and controversies related to strategies of keeping calves with their dam.

GrazyDaiSy is based on participatory experimental and on-farm research, focused on innovative strategies for dam-calf rearing and allowing more natural behaviour and life of cows and calves. The Danish partners are Aarhus University, Organic Denmark and Them Dairy Company.

We use many different research approaches, and this report is based on semi-qualitative interview methods to explore and understand perceptions, practices, challenges and benefits of dam-calf contact systems in four different contexts across Europe. Find more about the project on http://projects.au.dk/coreorganiccofund/GrazyDaiSy, and follow our publications on Organic Eprints: https://orgprints.org/view/projects/GrazyDaiSy.html

A 'sister project' in the CORE Organic Cofund cluster is the project ProYoungStock: http://projects.au.dk/coreorganiccofund/proyoungstock.