What is the Centre for Dairy Science Innovation (CDSI)?
The Centre for Dairy Science Innovation (CDSI) is a state-of-the-art extension to the University of Nottingham’s longstanding dairy facilities. It brings together existing expertise in dairy science, dairy herd health & welfare and dairy food science, and positions the University at the forefront of research into the health, nutrition and welfare of dairy cows.
The CDSI houses a 340-strong dairy herd and enables studies with up to 100 individually fed, high-yielding dairy cows and heifers to test the effect of a range of diets on milk production and composition, feed intake and live-weight change. A dedicated Youngstock Facility (calf and heifer) additionally enables the research team to track animals throughout their lives, using precision systems for monitoring performance, welfare, health, nutrition and behaviour.
A wide range of sensing and monitoring systems are in place across the CDSI to automate detailed data collection and process this data to generate meaningful information.
Key research expertise
The facility brings together researchers from the University’s Schools of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine and Science alongside industry. The CDSI offers the latest research technologies for studying a range of dairy-related topics including mastitis control, antimicrobial resistance, feed efficiency, environmental emissions and ‘wearable’ technologies for the herd.
Wider issues studied range from reproduction to rumen function, feeding behaviour and digestibility, to emerging technologies to prevent disease and improve cow welfare and greenhouse gas emissions.
Cutting-edge laboratory facilities expand the Dairy Herd Health Group’s capacity to study mastitis and investigate novel therapies and vaccines derived from new genomic technologies.
The CDSI offers the latest research technologies for studying a range of dairy-related topics, including:
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Environmental emissions
- Feed efficiency
- Lameness
- Mastitis control
- New wearable technologies for the herd
- Principle features
- Nutritional research unit
- Flexible housing unit
- Category 2 containment unit
- Youngstock unit (calf and heifer)
In collaboration with:
This Capability is based at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus.
The formation of CDSI sees a substantial investment in the dairy facilities at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus, considerably expanding and redeveloping the existing research unit, creating internationally leading dairy science research facilities.
The CDSI brings together existing expertise in Dairy Science, Dairy Herd Health and Welfare and Dairy Food Science.
