I work as a researcher at the Unit for Veterinary Epidemiology. My research focuses on precision livestock farming and the use of various types of sensor technology for monitoring animal health and welfare.
I defended my thesis, "Sensing the Worms – Automated Behaviour Monitoring for Detection of Parasitism in Grazing Livestock", in the spring of 2021. We investigated whether infections with gastrointestinal parasites affect behavioural patterns at the group level in cattle and lambs, and whether deviations in infected individuals can be detected using sensors.
Since my PhD, I have continued working on various projects focusing on precision livestock farming in both dairy cows and grazing animals.
I am involved in teaching epidemiology to veterinary students and also lecture on precision livestock farming in various courses and programmes at SLU.
Ongoing Research Projects
I am currently primarily involved in two ongoing projects:
Visionary Welfare Assessment (ViWA) – Welfare Monitoring with Multisensor Technology and Computer Vision (Formas 2021-02254).
I am the work package leader for the part of the project focusing on the technical development, application, and validation of a computer vision system. The development is centred on designing and implementing a 3D pose system to evaluate the behaviour and welfare of dairy cows.
Collaborating partners: SLU, Sony Nordic, Dalarna University, RISE, Växa.
DigiBrush - Creating insight on brush use in dairy cows through the development of automated assessment methods (Formas 2024-00336).
This interdisciplinary project will develop and validate state-of-the-art methods based on computer vision and sensor data on location to monitor brush usage. Longitudinal studies will assess how farm structure and internal factors such as lactation stage, disease, and stress influence brush use. Predictive models for identifying diseases based on brush usage patterns will be explored. Finally, existing guidelines will be compiled, and survey studies will examine farm-level implementation as well as farmers’ motivations and barriers to installing brushes. This research will establish validated best practice guidelines, improve welfare assessment methods, and promote the development of automated health monitoring in dairy production.
Collaborating partners: SLU, Sony Nordic, DeLaval, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), University of British Columbia.
Research grants
In my current projects, I collaborate with several institutions and organisations, including Sony Nordic, DeLaval, Dalarna University, RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), Växa, the University of British Columbia, the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the University of Copenhagen, and the Research Institute of Farm Animal Biology (FBN).
2021 - PhD Veterinary Medicine
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science / Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden. PhD Supervisor: Johan Höglund
2013 - MSc in Veterinary Medicine
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Swedish University of Agricultural, Sciences, Sweden
PhD-students
Adrien Kroese, (Technology; year of admission: 2022). Project title: Can we automate animal welfare monitoring with 3D pose estimation. Main supervisor: Prof. Nils Fall. Co-supervisors: Niclas Högberg, Lena-Mari Tamminen and Moudud Alam.
Anna Leclercq, (Veterinary Medicine; year of admission: 2022). Project title: Exploring the kinematics of lameness in dairy cows. Main supervisor: Elin Hernlund and Marie Rhodin (Changed from Marie Rhodin during year 2 (after E.H. became docent)). Co-supervisors: Niclas Högberg, Pia Haubro Andersen and Filipe Serra Braganca.
Boris Zandona, (Animal Science; year of admission: 2024). Project title: Maximizing the usefulness of sensors for a successful transition period in dairy cows. Main supervisor: Prof. Nils Fall. Co-supervisors: Niclas Högberg, Lena-Mari Tamminen, Ilka Klaas and Moudud Alam.
Anton de Jong, (Animal Biosciences; year of admission: 2024). Project title: Sustainable anthelmintic usage for Swedish beef- and milk production. Main supervisor: Eva Tyden. Co-supervisor: Niclas Högberg and Peter Halvarsson.
Karin Berggren, (Veterinary Medicine; year of admission: 2025). Project title: Effect of Fans and Water Cooling on Dairy Cow Health and Production under Swedish Conditions. Main supervisor: Prof. Renée Båge. Co-supervisors: Niclas Högberg and Lena-Mari Tamminen.
MSc-students
Mathilda Petersson, (Veterinary Medicine, SLU, 2022). Gastrointestinal nematode infection of lambs – associtation with deworming and age of weaning. Main supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Sara Andersson, (Veterinary Medicine, SLU, 2022). Objective assessment of movement in dairy cows with clinical front leg lameness. Main supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Josefin Norraback, (Animal Science, University of Helsinki, 2021). Effekten av nematodinfektion på aktivitet och beteende hos förstagångsbetande lamm. Main supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Reza Derakhshan, (Microdata Analysis, Dalarna University, 2024). Body Rumen Fill Scoring of Dairy Cows Using Digital Images. Main supervisor: Moudud Alam. Co-supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Soroush Yousefzadeh Boroujeni, (Microdata Analysis, Dalarna University, 2024). Body Rumen Fill Scoring of Dairy Cows Using Digital Images. Main supervisor: Moudud Alam. Co-supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Saumya Gupta, (Microdata Analysis, Dalarna University, 2023). Body dirtiness scoring from digital images of the dairy cow. Main supervisor: Moudud Alam. Co-supervisors: Niclas Högberg, Marc Ahlse.
Eric Jonsson, (Information Technology, Uppsala University, 2022). Automated Welfare Assessment of Dairy Cattle using Artificial Intelligence. Main supervisor: Marc Ahlse. Co-supervisor: Niclas Högberg.
Kroese, A.H., Högberg, N., Diaz Vicuna, E., Berthet, D., Fall, N., Alam, M., Tamminen, L.-M., 2024. Evaluating the Automation of Abnormal Posture Transition Indicators in Dairy Cows Using Pose Estimation in 3d. Smart Agricultural Technology (under review). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5049293
Kroese, A., Alam, M., Hernlund, E., Berthet, D., Tamminen, L.-M., Fall, N., Högberg, N., 2024. 3D pose estimation to detect posture transition in free-stall housed dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2023-24427.
Guzhva, O., Hessle, A., Högberg, N., Lidfors, L., Höglund, J., 2024. Hide ‘n seek: individual behavioural responses of cattle excreting different amounts of nematode eggs—potential threshold for pasture contamination assessment. Front. Anim. Sci. 5.
Herlin, A., Brunberg, E., Hultgren, J., Högberg, N., Rydberg, A., Skarin, A., 2021. Animal Welfare Implications of Digital Tools for Monitoring and Management of Cattle and Sheep on Pasture. Animals 11, 829. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030829
Highlighted by Elsevier in a press release: https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/automated-3d-computer-vision-model-offers-a-new-tool-to-measure-and
Högberg, N., Hessle, A., Lidfors, L., Höglund, J., 2023. The effect of weaning age on animal performance in lambs exposed to naturally acquired nematode infections. Vet. Parasitol. 316, 109900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2023.109900
Högberg, N., Lidfors, L., Hessle, A., Arvidsson Segerkvist, K., Herlin, A., Höglund, J., 2019. Effects of nematode parasitism on activity patterns in first-season grazing cattle. Vet. Parasitol. 276, 100011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vpoa.2019.100011
