Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
My main area of interest is dairy cattle breeding and identification of appropriate selection goals that meet as many stakeholders requirements as possible. The number of traits incorporated into the selection goal for all species is increasing which brings challenges when traits have unfavourable correlations. Of particular note is the mobilization of body energy by dairy cows - some is desirable since it adds to efficiency in both economic and environmental terms. Too much mobilisation creates unwanted correlated responses in fertility, health and welfare and concomitant losses in environmental impact efficiency. Balancing traits according to their value requires economic values that are intriguing to calculate when the trait has societal value. The construction of overall indices is an area of great interest since it alone produces the change in the national dairy cattle population. Bringing component science into systems work has unique aspects of interest especially in identifying where tradeoffs have to occur and what the magnitude of the tradeoff is.
Consultancy
Getting research results out to farmers and causing (positive) change in their behaviour as a result produces personal rewards especially as their profit increases. Genomic selection is an infant technology and only time will tell how successful it will ultimately be. Improving tools over time will be required. Overall, genetic selection that includes any phenotype is of interest in all species. Determining the best route to market in the shortest time also brings different, but interesting nonetheless, challenges.
Teaching
I teach on the SRUC Agriculture degree course to Animal Science and Agriculture students. I lecture to practising Vets on the Diploma in Bovine Reproduction delivered at Liverpool University.
As part of the Agritech Centre, Agrimetrics, I led on the development of a CPD course, Vetnomics, a course for the agri and vet industries practioners on genetic and genomic improvement in livestock.
I also teach in an ad-hoc manner to a number of audiences around the country but usually farmers on courses organised by Vet practices, RABDF and other extension services.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, Livestock Genetics, University of Edinburgh
Award Date: 1 Nov 2003
Bachelor, Agriculture, University of Nottingham
1979 → 1981
Award Date: 1 Jul 1981
External positions
British Cattle Breeders Club
1 Jan 2018 → …
European Association of Animal Production
2014 → 2019
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Network
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Reducing feed costs and GHG emission in smallholder dairy cattle in SSA
Mrode, R., Coffey, M. & Wall, E.
1/08/22 → 31/07/25
Project: Research
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Modular workflow for the community-led development of custom livestock DNA methylation arrays
1/08/22 → 31/08/24
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: SRUC-c5-2 Large Data To Underpin National Livestock Food Systems Modelling.
Coffey, M., Archibald, I. & Wall, E.
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: SRUC-b2-6 Integration Of Data To Drive Data Driven Approaches For Livestock Improvement.
Coffey, M., Tahir, U., Archibald, I. & Wall, E.
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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RESAS 22-27: Jhi-b5-1 Food And Drink Manufacturing: Establishing Baseline Contributions To Climate Change And Identifying Scope For Reduction Of Environmental Impacts (react).
Wall, E., Pritchard, T., Archibald, I. & Coffey, M.
Scottish Government: Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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292. Within and across breed single step genomic prediction for somatic cell count including foreign information
Mrode, R., Winters, M. W. & Coffey, M., 9 Feb 2023, (First published) Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP): Technical and species orientated innovations in animal breeding, and contribution of genetics to solving societal challenges. Wageningen Academic Publishers, p. 1229-1232Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Open AccessFile9 Downloads (Pure) -
674. Understanding the genetic architecture of claw horn lesions in different lactation stages in Holstein cattle
Li, B., Barden, M., Kapsona, V., Molano, E. S., Anagnostopoulos, A., Griffiths, B. E., Bedford, C., Dai, X., Coffey, M., Psifidi, A., Oikonomou, G. & Banos, G., 9 Feb 2023, (First published) Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP): Technical and species orientated innovations in animal breeding, and contribution of genetics to solving societal challenges. Wageningen Academic Publishers, p. 2782-2785Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Open AccessFile7 Downloads (Pure) -
Modelling growth in Suffolk and Charollais sheep populations using random regression models and validation of constrained polynomial correlation values
McGowan, E., Coffey, M., Simm, G. & Mrode, R., May 2023, In: Animal. 17, 5, 100792.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
Single-step genome-wide association analyses of claw horn lesions in Holstein cattle using linear and threshold models
Li, B., Barden, M., Kapsona, V., Sánchez-Molano, E., Anagnostopoulos, A., Griffiths, B. E., Bedford, C., Dai, X., Coffey, M., Psifidi, A., Oikonomou, G. & Banos, G., 10 Mar 2023, (First published) In: Genetics, selection, evolution : GSE. 55, 1, 16.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Downloads (Pure) -
Association between a genetic index for lameness resistance and the incidence of claw horn lesions in Holstein cows
Barden, M., Anagnostopoulos, A., Griffiths, B., Bedford, C., Winters, M., Li, B., Coffey, MP., Psifidi, A., Banos, G. & Oikonomou, G., 25 Apr 2022, (First published) In: Veterinary Record. 191, 1, e1632.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile
Prizes
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Queen's Anniversary Prize
Wall, Eileen (Recipient), Coffey, Mike (Recipient) & Roberts, Dave (Recipient), Oct 2017
Prize
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Activities
- 1 Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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SRUC-NVIDIA GPU Hackathon
Mike Coffey (Organiser) & Scott Denholm (Organiser)
19 Feb 2020 → 21 Feb 2020Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
Press/Media
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Bovine TB breakthrough from 'deep learning' computers
Scott Denholm & Mike Coffey
11/04/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
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Scotland’s Rural College Makes Moo-ves Against Bovine Tuberculosis with AI
Scott Denholm & Mike Coffey
15/12/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media
Impacts
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Incorporating novel data-driven approaches into cattle genetic improvement programmes leads to better animal performance and overall economic gains
Eileen Wall (Participant), Mike Coffey (Participant), Tracey Pritchard (Participant), Georgios Banos (Participant) & Raphael Mrode (Participant)
Impact: Technological
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Transforming genomic selection in commercial breeding programmes for pigs, dairy goats and poultry
John M Hickey (Participant), Mike Coffey (Participant), Raphael Mrode (Participant), Joanne Conington (Participant), John Woolliams (Participant), Alan L. Archibald (Participant), Albert Tenesa (Participant), Andreas Kranis (Participant) & Peter Visscher (Participant)
Impact: Technological
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