Jokioinen livestock research infrastructure

The research infrastructure of the Jokioinen Livestock Research includes a research barn, a multifunctional livestock research facility and a biogas plant. It includes a modelling environment for the milk and feed production chain and research platforms for poultry and pigs. Research in Jokioinen includes genetically sustainable dairy production, livestock production, animal nutrition and welfare, and the environmental impact of farm animals. 

The dairy research barn provides a comprehensive platform for milk production research. Completed in 2026, the facility together with its research equipment and technologies meets international standards for customer commissions and top-level research, and can be flexibly adapted to future needs. The main focus areas of the research include feeds, nutrition and feeding strategies; breeding, genetics and hologenomics; animal health and behaviour; novel technologies; bio-circular economy and nutrient cycles; as well as environmental impacts and ecosystem services.

• 150 dairy cows in milking; 180 animals in total
• Individual animal activity, indoor positioning and monitoring system; feeding monitoring; production monitoring
• Respiration chambers (4 units) for measuring metabolism and methane emissions of dairy cows
• Intensive unit tie stall places: digestibility trials and nutritional physiology experiments
• GreenFeed system (3 units) for measuring methane emissions and respiratory gases of dairy cows
• Individual animal physiology and health monitoring systems, live weight scale, and camera systems
• Individual feeding and feed intake measurement system
• Animal handling and procedure facilities
• Facility for handling oocytes and embryos
• Milking robots (3 units) and a pipeline milking system
• Feed processing equipment
• Feed storage
• Manure removal systems for biogas production and a separator to produce a dry fraction from the manure

• Research equipment, feeding strategies and production systems for small-scale pig and poultry research
• Separate sections for meat production and egg laying poultry, piglets and fattening pigs
• Spacious feed hall for large and small feed batches
• Individual or group feeding of animals according to experimental design
• Standardised rearing conditions
• Hatching of eggs into chicks
• Animal handling and processing facilities
• Multi-purpose research facility for research such as feed digestibility, animal growth and feed efficiency, end product quality, animal physiology and microbiome measurements

• The farm-scale biogas plant was completed in 2023 at the Luke Jokioinen research barn. Plant reactor size: 1100m3. 
• Based on wet anaerobic digestion technology.
• Produces both energy and dry matter or fertiliser products from biomass and side streams. 
• The energy produced is recovered as heat and electricity.
• The plant will allow, for example, to study the effects of different feed materials and digestate treatment in combination with Luke's Biopaja research platform.