VitDAL published a new paper this week which explored the genetic and host factors which influenced vitamin D status in a well studied cohort of Kenyan calves as part of the IDEAL study. Working with epidemiologists in Roslin and the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, the VitDAL team discovered that light coat colour was associated with higher 25(OH)D3 status. A key strength of the VitDAL LC-MS/MS based approaches is that we were able to dissect the cutaneous and dietary sources of vitamin D meaning that our work provided further evidence that coat colour can influence vitamin D status in ruminants. Our work also demonstrated that vitamin D status is under polygenic control. Our paper can be accessed via this link