Profile

My research links ethology and veterinary science and focuses on behaviour, pain, disease, and stress in domestic animals kept in production systems. Interdisciplinary projects primarily dealing with cattle and pigs form the basis of this research. The development of a method for quantification of cutaneous pain sensitivity in cattle and pigs based on laser technique (the so-called laser test) is among my most important research initiatives. I have considerable experience of measuring pain sensitivity in large domestic animals kept in various production systems, and the equipment needed for future studies is at my disposal. I have tried to include the measuring of pain sensitivity in relevant in correlations, including the importance of stress, milking, tactile stimulation and mastitis in relation to pain sensitivity in dairy cows and to a lesser extent in pigs. The keywords describing my research interests are; pain related to management intervention and disease; disease behaviour; special needs during disease; shoulder ulcers; animal transport.