• About the arena

  DyreBar is NMBU's collaboration arena for research on sustainable livestock production, animal health, and animal welfare. The initiative was established by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the Faculty of Biosciences (BIOVIT), the Faculty of Science and Technology (RealTek), and the Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science (KBM).

  National food-supply preparedness is challenged by a low and declining rate of self-sufficiency, while agriculture faces growing demands to reduce its environmental and climate impact. DyreBar aims to strengthen national preparedness by developing robust and sustainable production systems, with a particular emphasis on feeding, breeding, animal health, and animal welfare.

• Thematic focus areas

  By bringing together complementary expertise in animal science, veterinary medicine, animal welfare, behavioural biology, chemometrics, sensor technology, statistics, and machine learning, the arena aims to develop knowledge and solutions for sustainable food systems.

  
  This initiative emphasises openness, academic integrity, and respect for diverse disciplinary perspectives, in line with NMBU's core values. The Livestock Production Research Centre (SHF) serves as the arena's central research platform, enabling integrated, practice-oriented, and methodologically robust studies across a range of livestock species.

  Indicators for animal health and welfare

  Through the application of advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), deviations in behaviour and physiology can be identified at an early stage, enabling targeted measures to be taken before visible health and welfare problems arise. Simultaneously, behavioural traits and associated biomarkers can serve as phenotypes for breeding more robust animals. The arena builds, among other things, on ongoing work utilizing AI-based analysis of behaviour in pigs and dairy cattle, as well as mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy of milk to predict health status, energy balance, and methane emissions.

  Sustainable feeding regimes and production systems

  Promoting a circular bioeconomy in feed resources can significantly reduce the environmental impact of Norwegian livestock production. DyreBar will serve as a national point of contact for stakeholders seeking research-based support when introducing new feed ingredients. The arena will offer formulation, testing, and evaluation of feed solutions through controlled trials across dairy cattle, pigs, small ruminants, and poultry, enabling the systematic measurement of production, health, and welfare. At the same time, DyreBar emphasises that sustainable food systems may also require production methods that optimize and reduce overall resource consumption.

  Future-oriented data and analysis platforms

  Norwegian livestock production generates extensive register and sensor data, primarily including the health-recording scheme for cattle and parallel databases for small ruminants, pigs, and poultry. At the same time, data quality and a lack of validation remain a central challenge. DyreBar facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration across statistics, data science, animal and veterinary science, and animal welfare and ethology to develop and apply modern methods capable of integrating data from multiple sources of varying quality.

• Innovation and collaboration

  DyreBar aims to serve as a bridge between research, industry, and public administration, contributing to societal change through systematic, long-term collaboration with organizations, the public sector, and key players in the livestock industry. The Livestock Production Research Centre (SHF) is central to this work, operating as an open test arena where new feed resources, management practices, and technological solutions can be developed, tested, and documented under practice-oriented conditions. Through pilot projects, research groups can test innovative ideas, methods, and technologies in controlled settings.

• Doctoral training and lifelong learning

  Doctoral training is a central part of the arena. PhD candidates from relevant research communities take an active part in DyreBar's academic activities and networks, and the arena contributes to long-term capacity building through recruitment, supervision and academic meeting places such as PhD days and supervisor lunches. To ensure rapid uptake of research-based knowledge, these activities are linked closely to the development of new interdisciplinary continuing-education (EVU) modules for veterinarians, advisers, agronomists and technologists — including modules on sustainable production systems, sensor technology, 'early warning' of health and welfare deviations, and decision support. In this way, the arena connects research, doctoral training and lifelong learning.

  Doctoral training is a central pillar of the arena. PhD candidates from relevant research communities take an active part in DyreBar's academic activities and networks, and the arena contributes to long-term capacity building through recruitment, supervision, and collaborative meeting places such as PhD days and supervisor lunches. To ensure the rapid uptake of research-based knowledge, these activities are linked closely to the development of new, interdisciplinary continuing-education (EVU) modules for veterinarians, advisers, agronomists, and technologists. These include modules on sustainable production systems, sensor technology, 'early warning' systems for health and welfare deviations, and decision support. In this way, the arena integrates research, doctoral training, and lifelong learning.

• Organisation

  DyreBar is led by a project group with representatives from the four participating faculties, and is coordinated on a day-to-day basis by the arena's coordinator. The project group is responsible for strategic planning, academic direction, and the overall implementation of the arena's activities.

• Project board

• Contributors

Aktuelt

Planlagte aktiviteter

• Project proposals

• Current funding opportunities

• Contact and participation

  DyreBar is an open forum, and we welcome contact with researchers, PhD candidates, industry stakeholders, and public actors who wish to contribute to or benefit from the arena. Whether you have a project idea, wish to participate in our seminars, or want to explore collaborations on feeding, animal health, or animal welfare, please feel free to get in touch!

  For questions about the arena and our activities, please contact coordinator Veslemøy Oma or project manager Olav Reksen.