PILOT 4.3 Proactive Milk Quality Control
CHALLENGE
Traditional farming involved management systems based on direct observation of animals and intuitive decision making by the farmer. Larger animal numbers and reduced available time of the farmer have necessitated changes, potentially resulting in less available time to observe and detect welfare and health issues of individual animals. At the same time, societal expectations are increasing in terms of animal well-being and animal health. Thus, it is necessary to develop alternative mechanisms to predict welfare and health issues.
AIM
This pilot aims to integrate animal behaviour and physiological data into a welfare and health scoring framework with progression to a reference system to increase animal wellbeing standards on dairy cow farms.
HOW
The use of different indicators and technological sensors will enable a large number of measured variables to be recorded, the integration of which information will allow very strong robust prediction models to be established. Biochemical tests will also be conducted to confirm health status. Thus the IoT will be used in establishing a farming system that will (a) predict when an animal is not “functioning” properly; (b) establish a target that e.g. 95% of cows had no significant issue throughout their lactation; and (c) satisfy claims of the wellbeing of animals.
BENEFIT
The development of such a system using precision technologies will provide real benefits in profitability and an improved system by providing informed, real-time solutions to the farmer. Such solutions will be delivered in ways that are comprehensible to the farmer. The pilot will result in improved dairy cow health and well-being through an early warning system, meaning early intervention during health/welfare challenges. Documentation, enabled by data capture, analysis and record keeping developed in the pilot will allow transparency in animal health and welfare status and management on-farm. It will also help achieve national objectives around continuous quality assurance and better welfare standards for cattle.
LIVESTOCK
FOCUS: Animal Health, High Quality & Optimal Management of Animal Products.
LOCATION
Ireland
PARTNERS
Pilot projects run under pilot cluster four:
Pilot 4.1 - Dairy Farmers’ Dashboard for the Entire Milk and Meat Production Value Chain
Dairy Farmers’ Dashboard for the Entire Milk and Meat Production Value Chain
Farmers have to handle an increasing number of digital systems and solutions that affect their daily work as well as production and investment decisions. Today’s digital solutions do not communicate or integrate well enough together and are not largely based on the needs of the farmer.
Pilot 4.2 - Consumer Awareness: Milk Quality and Animal Welfare Tracking Management
Consumer Awareness: Milk Quality and Animal Welfare Tracking Management
Many farmers already monitor their animals by using different smart devices which collect data in a scattered way. However, they often miss an overall vision of the most important animal welfare and milk yield indicators. In addition, processing companies…
Pilot 4.3 - Proactive Milk Quality Control
Proactive Milk Quality Control
Traditional farming involved management systems based on direct observation of animals and intuitive decision making by the farmer. Larger animal numbers and reduced available time of the farmer have necessitated changes, potentially resulting in less available time to observe and detect welfare and health issues of individual animals.
Pilot 4.4 - Optimal Chicken Farm Management
Optimal Chicken Farm Management
Growing food demand has increased the need for animal protein. This need currently exceeds the demand by 1.7% per year, resulting in global annual poultry production reaching over 103.5 million tons (Foreign Agricultural Service/USDA, Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade). To meet growing demands…
