FULLY FUNDED PhD - The effect of preweaning milk replacer intake on growth, rumen development and long-term productivity of dairy calves, including economic and environmental cost benefit analysis.

About the Project

We are inviting applications for a fully funded cross-disciplinary industrial partnership project. Successful candidates will work with researchers in animal nutrition and veterinary medicine and a leading animal nutrition company (Volac Milk Replacers).

Calves fed higher milk replacer rations during the preweaning period have been shown to have:

• Greater disease resistance
• Better growth rates to weaning

These benefits (higher growth rates), obtained before weaning, result in improved production (increased milk yield) and improved efficiency (reduced time to first calving). Feeding higher volumes of milk replacer pre-weaning could therefore be a successful strategy to meet industry average daily gain targets for Holstein dairy calves of 0.7 to 0.8 kg per day which are currently not met on many farms. Meeting growth rate targets in replacement heifer calves will have long-term benefits for farm profitability and sustainability, and improved efficiency will lead to lower carbon footprint per litre of milk.

It remains to be determined if there is a long-term welfare, economic, and production benefit to feeding calves sufficient milk volume to exceed industry target weaning weight.

Despite existing published literature, critical knowledge gaps remain:

1. Are calves fed a higher volume of milk replacer solids more likely to be healthier in the preweaning period?
2. Are calves fed a higher volume of milk replacer solids more likely to exceed ADG targets of 0.7 to 0.8 kg per day?
3. What is the impact of increased milk replacer volume on starter intake and rumen development at weaning?
4. Are calves fed a higher volume of milk replacer solids more likely to be more productive in terms of earlier conception and higher milk production in first lactation?
5. Using life cycle analysis, what are the cost benefits in terms of economics and environmental impacts of feeding a higher volume of milk solids on milk production?

The candidate will benefit from working with an interdisciplinary team and will gain training and skills from a wide range of expertise provided by the supervisors. Animal handling will include monitoring of health scores, bodyweights, fertility and production parameters. The student will gain experience in collecting farm field data, as well as laboratory experience and data analysis skills. The team have extensive experience with academic and industry led extension messaging and knowledge exchange events with farmers and veterinarians. The student would be actively encouraged to participate in knowledge exchange meetings with these groups both with the university and with Volac Milk Replacers. Additionally, they will contribute to publications and enhance communication through workshops, public engagement and conferences.

The student will spend a proportion of their time (approximately 8 weeks) on secondment with the industrial partner. During secondment, the student will shadow and be trained by key employees in skills relating to dietary manufacturing and animal nutrition, including product development, formulation processing and manufacturing; nutritional rationing and dietary assessment (on–farm) and quality assurance

We are looking for an enthusiastic, dynamic individual with good communication skills. Candidates should have a background in agriculture, veterinary medicine or animal nutrition, and should have experience working with farm animal species.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make real word impact in animal nutrition. The project focuses on knowledge gaps around feeding calves milk replacer and future productivity. Project start dates: Earliest Start Date: 31/08/2026 - Latest Start Date: 31/10/2026

Funding Notes

Stipend: Year 1 £22,383.00, year 2 £23,003.00, year 3 £23,641.00 and year 4 £12,648.50.

Bench Fees: Year 1 £5,151.00, year 2 £5,301.00, year 3 £5,454.00 and year 4 £2,806.00.