Full Scientific Programme available

The 6th EWEN is entitled “Feeding horses with forage based diets and impact of grazing systems on environment” and the scientific programme will include six main sessions with the following topics:

Each of these sessions will comprise a main report given by an invited speaker, free communications and posters. A technical tour is scheduled on the second day (21th of June) with the main purpose of showing and promoting the local horse breeds, their main uses and traditions and divulging some investigation related with the meeting subjects.

Invited Speakers

Perttu Virkajärvi
Ph.D. in 2004 by University of Helsinki, Plant Production Science. His teaching career includes Docent in Plant Production Science, University of Helsinki 2009 and Professor in grassland production in 2011 MTT, Animal Production Research.
The main topic of his research interest is grassland research covering grassland management, grazing, crop physiology of grasses, nutrient cycling in grassland ecosystems. Currently leading research projects ‘Grassland in a changing climate’ and ‘Novel methods for reducing grassland originated nutrient load to inland waters.’
A member of British Grassland Society, The Scientific Agricultural Society of Finland, Finnish Peat Cultivation Society and Nordic Association for Agricultural Scientists.

Annette Longland
BSc in Biology at the University of Stirling  in 1978 and PhD at Imperial College, London. She was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Hull, where she specialised in microbial degradation of plant cell walls. She began working with nutrition of pigs and ruminants at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) in the early 1990’s. By the mid-1990’s her work focused on the utilisation of plant carbohydrates by equids, particularly in relation to forages and fibrous feeds. At this time she was also involved in determining changes in the carbohydrate content and composition of temperate grasses throughout the growing season.
In 2005 she set up her own equine nutrition research consultancy, ELNS. She has supervised a number of MSc and PhD students in the UK and abroad.

Koldo Osoro
He finished his degree in Veterinary in Facultad de León, 1978 and started to work as a Veterinary shortly after. Between 1983 and 1987 he finished his PhD at the Centro de Investigaciones Agrarias de Mabegondo (La Coruña) “Producción de carne con vacas de cría en zonas de montaña” for the University of Leon, under the supervision of Professor Eduardo Zorita. The post-doctoral followed shortly after, taking him from the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias to the Hill Farming Research Organization (Edimburgh, Scotland) where he continued his line of research in the interactions: available vegetation x managment strategies = animal production + vegetal dynamics.
He has participated and coordinated in several projects national and internationally.

Bertrand Dumond
Bertrand Dumond has a degree in Zootechnie by ENSA de Montpellier and in Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies de l’Université de Rennes1 (Biologie des Populations et Eco-éthologie) (1991). His PhD was housed by the Université de Rennes1 (Sciences de la Vie et de l’Environnement). In 2006 he became an Investigation Superviser for the University Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Fd (Sciences de la Vie et Modélisation). He is currently responsible for the "Relations Animal-Plantes et Aliments" of URH (Unité de Recherches sur les Herbivores), member of the Scientific Committee of ORE’s "Agro-écosystèmes Cycles Biogéochimiques et Biodiversité" and leader of the project "Evaluation of a set of indicators and synthesis of the interactions between grassland management, diversity and environmental services at a local level" of the European MultiSward program. His researches focus on diet selection by grazing herbivores and their impact on sward structure and pasture biodiversity. He has compared diet selection by sheep, cattle and horses within a range of contrasting environmental conditions, and is investigating diet selection (e.g., food categorization) and herd distribution (e.g., collective decisions and leadership) in complex environments.

Ray Smith
Dr. Ray Smith is a native of Georgia and received his undergraduate degree from Asbury University in Kentucky in 1983. After teaching high school biology, he entered a graduate degree program in agronomy at the University of Georgia where he completed master and PhD degrees in breeding and management of alfalfa and tall fescue.  From 1991 to 2001, he held a research, teaching and extension position at the University of Manitoba, Canada with a focus on alfalfa and perennial grass breeding, seed production and forage management. He was the Extension Forage Specialist in Virginia from 2001 through 2004. Currently, he is Associate Professor in the Kentucky University (Department of Plant and Soil Sciences) and one of the two Forage Extension Specialists in Kentucky. He is also Vice President of the American Forage and Grassland Council. His current research projects include: horse pasture evaluation methods, evaluating forage varieties for grazing tolerance and yield, integrating forage and biomass production systems, and developing computer teaching models.

Cecilia Muller
Cecilia is a post doctorate at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Department of Animal Nutrition and Management). She does research and teaching within feed science, especially production and utilization of forages for horses and is secretary in the Horse Committé at VH-faculty. Her main research interests include equine nutrition and management, especially forage production and utilization, silage and haylage production, conservation and utilization of forages in equine nutrition, hygienic quality of feeds, equine welfare in relation to feeding and nutrition, aiming to understand factors affecting forage nutritive and hygienic quality in relation to equine feeding, and how these factors affect the horse. She also takes part in Feed Science Network (Industry) and is a Member of the Group for Horse related issues at the Ministry for Rural Affairs in Sweden.

Anna Jansson
Anna Jansson is associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Department of Animal Nutrition and Management) and professor at Holar University College on Iceland. Her main research areas are nutrition and exercise physiology. She is currently running four major projects; one on the metabolic response to forage only diets compared to traditional starch rich diets on athletic horses, one on feeding a forage only diet and reducing the amount of training to young Standardbred horses, one on the phosphorous excretion of horses and one on the exercise response in Icelandic horses. Anna is currently supervising three PhD students in these projects.

Nicoletta Miraglia
Nicoletta Miraglia is born in Naples (I) in 1957. She is Associate Professor on Animal Nutrition at the Molise University (Campobasso, Italy). The research activity concerns mainly studies on horse nutrition referred to digestibility trials with different methodologies, the utilization of pastures by horses, the exploitation of marginal lands by equines and safeguards programs of equine endangered populations. She is an Editor of "ANIMAL" (Section Livestock farming animals). Since 2008 she is President of the Horse Commission of The European Association for Animal Production (EAAP).

Bridget Young
Bridget obtained her PhD in Animal Nutrition from University College Dublin and is currently a Lecturer in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Department of Life Sciences at the University of Limerick in Ireland since 2003. She is currently Course Director of the Full time and Distance Education Equine Programmes (Degree, Diploma and Certificate) at the University. Her PhD research examined nutrient metabolism in ruminants and was conducted at Teagasc Animal and Grassland, Research & Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork. Since her appointment at UL she has established laboratory facilities in the Department of Life Sciences to conduct research in Equine Nutrition. She has successfully supervised a number of MSc projects and acted as Internal Examiner on a number of PhD projects. Her research interests include feed and forage utilisation in horses, feeding for performance and feeding behaviour. She has published in peer–reviewed journals and many conference proceedings in the field of animal nutrition.