Austrian cattle farming – characterized by small and medium-sized family farms operating on grassland that covers around 50% of the country’s agricultural area – faces environmental, economic, and societal challenges. Climate change, market dynamics, and growing expectations regarding animal welfare and sustainability make a transition necessary.
The ENSURE project develops, evaluates, and tests strategies for sustainable, resilient, and resource-efficient cattle farming in Austria. Its aim is to reduce the negative environmental impacts of cattle production while enhancing its positive effects, strengthen the resilience of farms and animals, ensure food security, and enhance economic competitiveness of farms and the sector. As part of this process, specific applications are developed to optimize breeding, support animal health management, and improve feeding practices, and farm strategies aligned with these objectives, are identified.
ENSURE follows a transdisciplinary and holistic approach that integrates, optimizes, and examines the interactions between various key factors — such as breeding, feeding, animal health and welfare, as well as ecosystem services with a focus on alpine farming and tourism. Trade-offs are analysed, and comprehensive solutions are developed that equally consider ecological, economic, and social dimensions. ENSURE is characterized by close collaborations between outstanding scientists and representatives of industry partners.
The project results will be translated into science-based recommendations, policy briefs, and practical solutions for farmers, agriculture, policy, and industry – serving as a blueprint for the sustainable transformation of cattle farming in Austria.
Project Structure
ENSURE’s overarching goal is to develop and implement strategies and solutions for sustainable and resource-efficient cattle farming.
To achieve this goal, a transdisciplinary consortium of scientists and various stakeholders from 48 organizations across the beef and dairy value chains will carry out an F&E program.
ENSURE’s eight closely interlinked projects are divided into two thematic areas:
Area 1: Scenarios & Strategies
Area 1 develops future scenarios and strategies for sustainable cattle farming. Using participatory stakeholder approaches, it models the impacts of climate change, market demands, and societal needs on the beef and dairy sectors. Here, scenarios and results from the projects in Area 1, as well as findings from Area 2, are brought together with a focus on a holistic perspective. Various strategies and development opportunities in cattle farming are developed, along with concrete solutions and applications, for example in breeding. Regional differences and site-specific requirements are also taken into account.
Through the collaboration of key stakeholders with scientists, the integration of diverse data sources, fact-based and robust strategies are developed that strengthen resilience, sustainability, and resource efficiency. These are complemented by guidelines, policy briefs, and forward-looking solutions tailored to different locations and conditions, with particular focus on cattle farming in alpine regions.
This project analyses how different farm strategies and framework conditions affect the biophysical, economic, and environmental performance of Austria’s dairy and beef sectors. It examines nutrient and energy flows, animal welfare, the degree of circularity and value creation networks, including processing as well as import and export activities, are also incorporated into the simulations.
For specific farm types and locations, the impacts on individual farms are analyzed within the framework of case studies, and solutions are developed jointly with practitioners.
The aim is to assess the resilience of these systems to disruptions—such as supply chain breakdowns or production shifts—and to identify vulnerabilities and opportunities for optimisation along the value chain.
The results will provide a fact-based understanding of how transformation scenarios impact economic viability, sustainability, and animal welfare on animal, farm and sector level. Based on these findings, policy briefs and recommendations will outline realistic transition pathways towards sustainable, circular and economically viable dairy and beef production in Austria.
The ALPTOUR project explores how alpine pasture use is expected to change over the next decades due to climate and structural changes and what this means for cattle farming, food production, tourism, landscape preservation, and ecosystem services.
It aims to identify the climatic, economic, production-related and social drivers of change in alpine pasture management and to develop foresight strategies that enhance the resilience and sustainability of mountain farming. By analysing interactions between agriculture and tourism, ALPTOUR highlights opportunities for closer collaboration and regional value creation.
The project delivers science-based foresight scenarios and practical recommendations to strengthen sustainable pasture management, support climate adaptation, and promote dairy and beef products from alpine regions. Policy briefs and stakeholder engagement activities will guide future cooperation between cattle farming and tourism sectors.
The project develops new phenotypes and breeding strategies based on emerging technological possibilities to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of cattle breeding. The goal is to adapt breeding objectives and programs to changing ecological, societal, and economic conditions while making optimal use of the potential offered by modern technologies.
By integrating new traits — such as metabolism, claw health, methane emissions, feed efficiency, and reproduction — into breeding goals, genetic progress can be more effectively directed toward environmental and animal welfare aspects. Innovative data collection and analysis methods, particularly from Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) and genomic approaches, enable more accurate evaluation of breeding values and breeding strategies.
The project provides scientifically sound recommendations for optimizing performance testing, breeding objectives, and breeding programs, demonstrating how sustainable breeding decisions can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve animal health, and ensure long-term economic viability.
Area 2: Optimisation Solutions
Area 2 focuses on developing innovative, practice-oriented solutions to optimize cattle farming. The focus is on improvements in animal and environmental health, animal welfare, feeding, and farm management — aiming to increase efficiency at both the farm and sector levels. The results from Area 2 are incorporated into Area 1 to optimize the overall system, with the goal of reducing the ecological footprint while simultaneously creating economic and social value.
Project 4 focuses on enhancing dairy cow health, welfare, and reproductive performance – key pillars of sustainable dairy farming.
The relationships between management, feeding, housing, and circular economy, as well as heat stress, and their impact on health and fertility are being examined. Modern sensor technologies and Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) methods are used to objectively assess animal welfare, detect heat stress early, and develop targeted mitigation measures.
Building on these insights, innovative digital tools will be developed to help farmers improve reproduction management, animal health and welfare, and early detection of heat stress. The results will contribute to more resilient, efficient, and animal-friendly dairy farming systems.
Efficient feeding is key to profitability, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability in dairy farming. Project 5 explores how optimised feeding strategies can enhance feed efficiency, reduce methane emissions, and improve animal health and welfare. Using data from automated milking and feeding systems, sensors, and MIR spectra, the project develops innovative machine learning models to predict feed intake and estimate greenhouse gas emissions. These tools aim to support data-driven improvements in feeding and emission management at both farm and animal levels.
The project also investigates links between feeding, energy balance, and health traits, including the impact of feed contamination with mycotoxins on claw health. Based on these insights, digital decision-support tools will be created to help farmers manage feeding and emissions more efficiently.
By integrating economic, environmental, and animal health aspects, Project 5 contributes to a deeper understanding of sustainable feeding systems and supports the transition toward climate-smart dairy farming.
Climate change poses increasing challenges for dairy production. Project 6 – Ensure Resilient Cows focuses on breeding strategies to improve heat tolerance and overall resilience in dairy cows, helping to mitigate the negative effects of high temperatures and other stressors such as mastitis or fertility issues.
Using daily milk yield data, the project analyses how individual cows respond to heat and environmental stress, identifying new heritable traits that reflect resilience. By integrating weather, farm management, and sensor data, researchers can better understand how climatic and on-farm factors influence animal performance and well-being.
The project estimates heritability and genetic correlations between resilience traits and existing production and health traits. Furthermore, the insights will support the development of farm-specific heat stress alert systems, contributing to breeding and management strategies for more climate-resilient dairy herds.
Healthy calves are the foundation of sustainable dairy farming. Project 7 focuses on investigating the causes of calf losses and addresses various approaches to improving calf health, including genetics, management practices, and the role of vaccination strategies in enhancing health and reducing antibiotic use.
The project analyses the causes and risk factors of calf mortality, including stillbirths and perinatal deaths. By combining pathological findings, genetic data, and management information, targeted recommendations will be developed to improve animal health and survival rates.
Another key focus is the integration of new genetic traits—such as reasons for removal from the herd, health indicators, sucking insufficiency, and cross-sucking—into breeding value estimation, to promote more robust and healthier youngstock in the long term.
In addition, vaccination strategies are being evaluated for their effectiveness, particularly how early and targeted vaccinations can reduce respiratory diseases and improve growth performance.
The results will provide practical recommendations, guidelines, and tools for farmers, veterinarians, and advisory services to enhance the survival, health, and welfare of calves and young animals.
Alpine dairy farming combines unique ecological conditions with traditional management practices. Project 8 explores the complex interconnections between plant diversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and animal welfare in alpine dairy systems. The project aims to deepen understanding of these relationships and support more sustainable alpine farming practices.
Research focuses on cattle movement patterns, feeding preferences, nutrient inputs, and farm characteristics across sites differing in plant diversity. The study also examines how seasonal alpine farming affects cow health and metabolic efficiency. In addition, a comprehensive life cycle assessment will include ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions derived from urine composition.
It is expected that farming intensity, GHG emissions, and plant diversity are closely linked. The results will inform feeding and management strategies to enhance animal health, prevent metabolic disorders, and promote biodiversity while reducing emissions — contributing to more resilient alpine dairy farming systems under climate change.
Publications
Project Partners
A transdisciplinary consortium of leading scientists and key stakeholders from 48 organizations across the beef and dairy value chains is working together to achieve ENSURE’s goals.
ENSURE wird unterstützt von
Contact
ENSURE Overall Project Manager: Dr. Christa Egger-Danner
ZuchtData EDV-Dienstleistungen GmbH
Dresdner Straße 89/B1/18
1200 Wien
ensure@zuchtdata.at