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US dairy farmers using precision tools to track milk yield, mastitis and milk components

By Aerin Curtis

- Last updated on GMT

US dairy farmers using precision tools to track milk yield, mastitis and milk components
As precision farming technology has improved, there has been greater take up in the US dairy sector but the numbers investing in such tools still remain fairly low, says an animal science expert.

Jeffrey Bewley, assistant professor in the department of animal and food sciences at the University of Kentucky, with colleague Matthew Borchers, recently ran a study with the goal of getting a better understanding of how precision farming tools are deployed in US dairy production.

He said such technology use helps dairy producers refine their management practices with an emphasis on farm efficiency.

Dairy production parameters monitored by new technologies include daily milk yield, milk components, temperature, milk conductivity, estrus-detection monitors, and daily BW measurements, said Bewley.

“If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it,”​ Bewley told FeedNavigator. “Without really digging into the details of the records, it’s hard to understand the performance of the cows and where to improve.”

But he said some of the hindrances to wider use of such technology in the US dairy sector may be the costs involved and that some of the tools on the market may not fulfill on-farm needs.

Milk yield, mastitis and milk components

Bewley and Borchers carried out an online survey of US dairy producers in March 2013 - the results of which were published in the Journal of Dairy Science​ in June this year.

The authors said they were able to use 104 responses for their analysis of technology use. “Producer responses indicated that the most commonly measured parameters by already adopted technologies were daily milk yield (52.3%), cow activity (41.3%), mastitis (25.7%), and milk components (24.8%),”​ wrote the University of Kentucky duo.

Bewley noted that it is becoming more common to use technology to monitor other aspects of dairy production such as feeding time, rumination time and metabolic disruption.

There is growing interest in tools that can analyze factors like fat or protein levels in milk and somatic cell counts or can provide dairy farmers with early warning signs on biological issues like mastitis, lameness or ketosis, he said.

Cost to benefit ratio

In determining whether they would buy data collecting technology, producers said their most important considerations were the cost to benefit ratio, the total cost and how easy the product was to use.

“We’ve seen farmers who (weren’t excited) but they see it as a tool and they [have learnt how to use it],”​ he said. “But the younger generation is more technologically oriented and they’re going to be more interested in the technologies.”

In the open-ended response question, several producers also indicated technologies they viewed as potentially useful – some of their proposals includes a feed consumption monitor for individual cow TMR intake and also technology to predict risk of lameness within a system or for individual cows.

“These suggestions could provide useful input in the development of future technologies,”​ said the researchers.

But some of the new precision farming technology may be a better suited to larger dairy operations that can recover the costs over time, said Bewley.

And he said good husbandry skills are still needed even with the use of technology, as even good health monitoring won’t fix all problems, he said. “It doesn’t take the place of the human decision making process,” ​he added.

Training on interpreting the data

Bewley and Borchers wrote precision farming technology manufacturers should demonstrate their usefulness in a commercial setting to inspire producer confidence:

“There is also a need for organizations to train producers to effectively use these technologies and interpret the information generated from them.”

They said if manufacturers also better identified parameters that dairy producers most value, they can optimize technology development to more effectively serve the needs of dairy farming.

Source: Journal of Dairy Science

Title: An assessment of producer precision dairy farming technology use, prepurchase considerations, and usefulness

DIO: 10.3168/jds.2014-8963

Authors: MR Borchers, JM Bewley

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