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Sustainability

Bodenverdichtung

How does compacted soil recover?

It takes mere seconds to compact a soil, but years or even decades for it to recover. Biological activities by plant roots and soil organisms (earthworms) as well as physical effects like drying out and rewetting phases, and freezing-thawing cycles are vital for natural regeneration. Exactly how recovery happens is being investigated in a long-term field trial. For this, an observational infrastructure with hundreds of soil probes – the Soil Structure Observatory (SSO) – was set up in 2014 together with ETH Zurich. After the initial compaction event, a fallow, a permanent grassland and a crop rotation with and without tillage were set up. This allows to analyse e.g. the influence of plants and tillage on recovery.

Bodenfruchtbarkeit und Bodenschutz
SoilStructureObservatory
Regeneration verdichteter Böden

Publikation Arbeitshaltung Melken

Ergonomics in the milking parlour

Milkers frequently suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, especially in the area of the shoulders and arms.  Agroscope therefore investigated whether appropriate working heights can reduce workload in the milking parlour. For this, the angle of flexion of various joints during milking was recorded in one experiment, whilst a second experiment recorded muscle contractions at three different heights. The study showed that although a lower working height in the milking parlour has no effect on forearms or upper arms, it significantly reduces strain on the shoulders. 

Publications Marianne Cockburn

Huber R., Cockburn M., Gazzarin C.
Wie wirtschaftlich ist die Pensionspferdehaltung?: Ergebnisse aus einer ETH Masterarbeit von Rafael Huber.
Dans: Strickhof Pensionspferdetag. 20. März, Wülflingen. 2024, 1-23.

Heikkilä U., Ueda K., Gobbo Oliveira Erünlü N., Baumgartner M., Cockburn M., Bachmann I., Roig-Pons M., Rieder S.
Social network analysis of horses inferred from sensor ear tag and GPS-logger data.
Dans: EAAP 74 Annual Meeting. 26 Augus, Lyon. 2023, 652.

Heikkila U., Ueda K., Baumgartner M., Cockburn M., Bachmann I., Roig-Pons M., Rieder S.
Social network analysis of horses inferred from sensor ear tag and GPS-logger data.
Dans: EAAP 74 Annual Meeting. 26 August, Lyon. 2023, 1.

Hiltebrand C., Roig-Pons M., Baumgartner M., Cockburn M., Doetterl S., Bachmann I., Keller T., Briefer S., Würbel H., Gmel A., Pauler C., Schneider M. K., Nasser R.
Site expérimental de Saint-Aubin : Projets de recherche en cours.
Dans: Jeudi au Haras. 20 juillet, Avenches. 2023, 1.
autres langues: allemand

Ellerbrock C. N., Zeitler-Feicht M., Cockburn M., Erhard M.H., Baumgartner M.
Urinating in transponder-controlled feeding stations: Analysis of an undesirable behaviour in horses.
Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 266, 2023, 1-10.

Gasser L., Perez F. C. , Cockburn M.
Can meteorological data improve the short-term prediction of individual milk yield in dairy cows?
Journal of Dairy Science, In Press, 2023.

Ellerbrock C., Zeitler-Feicht M. H., Cockburn M., Erhard M. H., Baumgartner M.
Analyse des unerwünschten Verhaltens “Urinabsatz in Abrufautomaten“ von Pferden.
Agroscope Science, 133, 2023, 36-37.

Reissig L., Cockburn M.
Neuer Rohstoff aus der Landwirtschaft.
Schweizer Bauer, 20. Mai, 2023, 4.

Gómez Y., Cockburn M., Hankele A. K., Gygax L., Zähner M., Hillmann E. , Savary P.
Effects of small milking stalls on stress responses in dairy cows during milking in group milking parlors.
Journal of Dairy Science, 105, (1), 2022, 609-622.

Gandorfer M., Hoffmann C., El Benni N., Cockburn M., Anken T., Floto H.
Informatik in der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft: Fokus: Künstliche Intelligenz in der Agrar- und Ernährungswirtschaft.
Dans: 42. GIL Jahrestagung. P-317, Ed. Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), Agroscope, Tänikon, Ettenhausen, Schweiz. 2022.

Cardoso Moreira Waldburger T., Cockburn M., Monney P., Anken T.
Dendrometers reflect physiological growth, leaf flushing cycles and water stress levels of cocoa trees.
Dans: 41. GIL-Jahrestagung, Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie in kritischen Zeiten. 8.-9. März, Ed. A. Meyer-Aurich, M. Gandorfer, C. Hoffmann, C. Weltzien, S. Bellingrath-Kimura, H. Floto, Potsdam. 2021, 337-342.

Cardoso Moreira Waldburger T., Cockburn M., Monney P., Anken T.
Dendrometers reflect physiological growth, leaf flushing cycles and water stress levels of cocoa trees.
Dans: 41. GIL-Jahrestagung, Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie in kritischen Zeiten. 08.03., Bonn. 2021, 337-342.

Cockburn M., Latsch R.
Lutte biologique contre le rumex.
Revue UFA, 9, 2020, 42-44.
autres langues: allemand

Gómez Y., Terranova M., Cockburn M., Gygax L., Zähner M., Savary P., Hillmann E.
Einfluss kleiner Melkplätze auf Verhalten, Physiologie und Milchabgabe in Gruppenmelkständen.
Dans: 20. Jahrestagung der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft der Milcherzeugerberatung e.V.. 2.10., Ed. WGM Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft der Milcherzeugerberatung e.V., Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 2020, 16-20.

Cardoso Moreira Waldburger T., Monney P., Anken T., Cockburn M., Audrey E., Lecoeur J., Brini M., Forster D., Jöhr H.
Growing Cocoa in Semi-Arid Climate - a Scalable Use Case for Digital Agriculture.
Agroscope Science, 86, 2019, 1-65.
autres langues: autre langue

Cockburn M., Gomez Y., Schick M., Maffiuletti N.A., Gygax L., Savary P., Umstätter C.
Effect of milking stall dimensions on upper limb and shoulder muscle activity in milkers: Stall size effect on muscle activity in milkers.
Journal of Dairy Science, 102, (5), 2019, 4563-4576.

Cockburn M., Schick M., Maffiuletti N.A., Gygax L., Savary P., Umstätter C.
Lower working heights decrease contraction intensity of shoulder muscles in a herringbone 30° milking parlor.
Journal of Dairy Science, 100, (6), 2017, 4914-4925.

Cockburn M., Savary P., Schick M.
Amélioration de la posture de travail lors de la pose du faisceau trayeur : Recommandations de hauteur de quai idéale pour différents types de salles de traite.
Agroscope Transfer, 102, 2015, 1-8.
autres langues: allemand

Rinder Fuetterung

Optimised feed reduces environmental impacts

On behalf of Micarna SA, Agroscope analysed the environmental impacts of beef, pork and poultry production. With beef production, feed intensity was crucial. In the case of pork and poultry production, the quantity of feed used per kg of meat had the greatest influence on environmental impacts. The use of European soya with its shorter transport distances had a positive effect. 

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