LiveM organized the International Livestock Modelling and Research Colloqium in October 2014 in Bilbao, Spain, at the Maritime Museum on the banks of the Nervión-Ibaizabal estuary, bringing together around 45 MACSUR researchers from LiveM, CropM and TradeM, as well as representatives of ATF (Animal Task Force), EAAP (European Federation of Animal Science), the GRA Animal Health and GHG Emissions Intensity Network, AgMIP (Agricultural Modelling Improvement Programme) and the SOLID (Sustainable, Organic and Low Input Dairying) project. The aims of the meeting were to showcase modelling research related to LiveM and MACSUR, to bring closer ties between partners and the external initiatives represented, and to hold discussions on the future direction and purpose of the theme as the MACSUR knowledge hub moves towards its second phase from 2015-2017. Extended abstracts of oral presentations and posters from the conference will be made available in the coming weeks in a special edition of Advances in Animal Biosciences. PDF versions of oral presentations are available through the meeting's website, as well as PDFs of several of the posters that were presented. As an outcome of the discussions undertaken during the meeting, a position paper for LiveM is foreseen, to provide a focus for our activities and to describe our approaches and their benefits.