Smart diary farming (KB-12-006.03-001)

The objective of the Smart Dairy Farming project is to contribute to an economic sound sustainable dairy chain by efficient operational support of farmers with adequate operational decision support on individual cow level.

The project is a public-private cooperation between farmers, chain partners, research institutes and industry. This unique cooperation aims at the introduction of the concept of precision livestock farming into practical chain management that will be based on operational individual cow management. 

 The following sub-objectives are identified:

• Development of a monitoring tool for (individual) animal health on dairy farms (signal function).
• Develop decision support models for the operational management, based on Critical Control Point and resulting in SOP’s (standard operating procedures) .
• Increase labour efficiency on dairy farms by incorporating management by exception rules that focus on individual cows that needs care and on the subclinical phase detection.
• Improve quality of dairy farm advisers that should be based on relevant, adequate and uniform information on cow-farm-chain level.
• Benchmarking of dairy farms within the milk production chain by farm comparisons.
• Integrate operational cow and farm data into the quality chain system of chain partners (breeding, feed, milk quality) and create new information and add value to the operational data.

Based on the results of a preceding feasibility study the focus within the SDF project will be on the animal health, fertility and feeding of individual cows. In each area cows that needs care will be identified faster en more efficient by using sensor and model technology, and it will be followed by a farm specific SOP.