Hi I'm
Prof Richard Dewhurst

I am Professor of Ruminant Nutrition & Production Systems and Head of the Dairy Research Centre. I joined SRUC in 2013 and previously led research units in Wales, New Zealand, and Ireland. I sometimes describe my career as a tour of the English-speaking world!

I received the 'Sir John Hammond Memorial Award' in 2008 and have served as President of both the New Zealand Society of Animal Production and the British Society of Animal Science.

Over more than 30 years I have worked at the interfaces between ruminant nutrition, product composition and rumen function - including modelling of forage composition, dry cow feeding strategies, fatty acids and fertility, and rumen diagnostics.

My current research is about developing markers for feed conversion efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from ruminants and exploring host interactions with the intestinal microbiome. I’m also involved in managing the long-running Langhill Dairy Cow breeding study, which is currently celebrating 50 years of activity.

I enjoy working with colleagues from around the world in a series of major international collaborative projects, including: ‘Rumen Stability’ as part of the FACCE-JPI programme; EU Horizon 2020 ‘SmartCow’ and ‘Legumes Translated’ projects; and a new ERA-NET project (‘GrasTec‘) exploring precision technologies to reduce GHG emissions from grazing ruminants.

I was Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture Conference (Dublin, 2013) and am currently one of the Co-Chairs of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) Livestock Research Group (LRG) community.