How Precision Dairy Technologies can Change your World · How Precision Dairy Technologies can Change your World ... • Narrow profit margins ... •Assessment of facility functionality/cow

How Precision Dairy

Technologies can

Change your World

L.J. Erasmus

Dept. Animal and Wildlife Sciences, University of Pretoria

Changing Dairy Landscape

Changing Dairy Landscape

• Fewer, larger dairy operations

• Narrow profit margins

• Increased feed and labour costs

• Cows are managed by fewer skilled

workers

Consumer Focus

• Continuous quality assurance

• “Natural” or “organic” foods

• Greenhouse gas reductions

• Zoonotic disease transmission

• Reducing the use of medical treatments

• Increased emphasis on animal well-being

Cow Challenges

1. Finding cows in heat

2. Finding and treating lame cows

3. Finding and treating cows with mastitis

4. Catching sick cows in early lactation

5. Understanding nutritional status of cows

a. Feed intake

b. Body condition (fat or thin)

c. Rumen health (pH/rumination time)

Reasons for Culling Cows

• Reproductive failure 26.3%

• Mastitis and udder problems 23.0%

• Lameness or injury 16.0%

• Other diseases 3.7%

• Poor milk production 16.0%

• Miscellaneous reasons

USDA, 2007

Precision Dairy Management

The use of automated mechanised

technologies toward refinement of dairy

management processes, procedures, or

Information collection.

Precision Dairy Farming Technologies

• Measure physiological, behavioural and

production indicators on individual animals

to improve management strategies and

performance

• Main objectives are maximising individual

cow potential, early detection of disease

and minimising use of medication through

preventative health measures

• Make more timely and informed decisions

• Supplement observational activities of

skilled herdsmen

What Precision Dairy Technologies

are out there?

10Internal

Automated Milking Systems

Calf rearing systems

Automated Calf Feeding

Precision FeedingFeed mangerIndexes cow1 feed standardup to 4 feeds

What Precision Dairy Technologies are out there?

It can be a bit overwhelming!

Fatness or

Thinness

Rumination/pH

Temperature

MobilityHoof

Health

Mastitis

Respiration

Milk

content

Heart rate

Animal

position/location

Chewing

activity

Lying/

standing

behavior

Methane

emissions

Feed

intake

Areas to monitor

a dairy cow

Estrus Detection Technologies

Cow’s Biology

Heat duration• Cow’s heat lasts for 7 to 8 hours

• Affects the possibilities of the farmer to detect the cows in heat and inseminate with success

• It varies significantly between individual cows, but not between herds. 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

< 4 4 to 8 8 to 10 > 10

Holstein

Jersey

Hours

Data from cows at the Virginia Tech Dairy Cattle Centre

Risk in Estrous detection• Error 1 – not identify a cow in heat, this increase the

number of open days

• Error 2 – identify a cow in heat which is not in heat or inseminate at a wrong timing

cost a semen and labour

Timing for Insemination

OptimumInsemination Time

Standing Heat

Most FertilePeriod

Ovulation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30hours

Estrous activity during day & night

• This move a lot depending of the month due to the temperature…(warm season)

• 6 a.m. to noon 22%

• Noon - 6 p.m. 10%

• 6 p.m. – midnight 25%

• Midnight – 6 a.m. 43%

• Source. Oklahoma State university

REPRODUCTION- WORLD WIDE PROBLEM!

Estrus Detection

GEA

Rescounter II

AFI Pedometer

Plus

SCR HR

Tag/AI24

DairyMaster

MooMonitor/

SelectDetect

Track a CowBouMatic

HeatSeeker II

• Efforts in the US have

increased dramatically in

the last 2 years

• Producer experiences are

positive

• Changing the way we

breed cows

• Only catches cows in heat

• Real economic impact

Pedometer

Reproductive Managementand Breeding

ALPROActivity Meter

The alarm is activated

Optimuminsemination time

Standing heat

Date/time

Activity level

Day 1 Day 2 11.00 18.00 Day 3 11.00

Estrus Detection

• Accubreed: Mounting activity, radio transmitter

glued onto tailhead of cow

• Anemon: Based on body temperature variation

and activity. Anebox transmitter fixed to cow’s

collar sends SMS alerts

• CowScant Activity Monitoring System -

pedometer

Calving Detection Technologies

Vel’Phone

• Vaginal temperature monitor

• Notifications by text

message

• Insert one week before

calving date

• Accurate within 48 hours

• Different sizes for heifers

and cows

Video Monitoring

• Not a Precision Dairy Farming

Technology

• Can be used in conjunction

• Inexpensive

• Less late night surprises

Mastitis – Electrical Conductivity

• Ion concentration of milk changes,

increasing electrical conductivity

• Inexpensive and simple equipment

• Wide range of sensitivity and

specificity reported

• Results improve with quarter level sensors

• Improved results with recent algorithms

• Most useful when combined with

other metrics

Milk Colour

www.lely.com

• Colour variation (red, blue, and

green) sensors in some automatic

milking systems

• Reddish colour indicates blood(Ordolff, 2003)

• Clinical mastitis may change colour

patterns for three colours (red,

green and blue)

• Specificity may be limited

Production Performance Monitors

• Milk yield

• Milk temperature

• Fat content

• Protein

• Milk quality:

• Blood presence

• Lactose

• SCC level

Milk Monitors

Biosensors and Chemical Sensors

• Biological components (enzymes, antibodies, or micro-

organism)

• Enzyme, L-Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), is released

because of the immune response and changes in cellular

membrane chemistry

• Chemical sensors: changes in chloride, potassium and

sodium ions, volatile metabolites resulting from mastitis,

haptoglobin and hemoglobin (Hogeveen, 2011)

Brandt et al., 2010; Hogeveen et al., 2011

Herd NavigatorMilk measurements

• Progesterone

• Heat detection

• Pregnancy detection

• LDH enzyme

• Early mastitis detection

• BHBA

• Indicator of subclinical ketosis

• Urea

• Protein status

Other Technologies

• AGIS Automation/CowManager

• Feeding Behavior

• Rumination

• Temperature

• Activity

• Smartbow

• Animal position/location

• Time management

AGIS Automation/

CowManager

Reticulorumen Monitors

“Hey, wait a minute! This is grass!

We’ve been eating grass!”

Rumen Temperature

• Active reticulorumen bolus

• Transmits data automatically

• Uses

• Detect illness

• Estrus and ovulation

Rumen pH monitoring

• Resides in Reticulorumen

• Can Transmit

• pH data

• Temperature

• Place in all cows or select few

• Representative sample of herd

• Illness

• Feeding/drinking behaviour

• Acidosis

SCR HR Tag

• Measures rumination time

• Time between cud boluses

• Monitor metabolic status

Amanda Sterrett

et al.

SCR Rumination Time• Measures rumination time

• Time between cud boluses

• Monitor metabolic status

SCR HR Tag for Milk Fever Detection

Amanda Sterrett et al., Unpublished Data

Start with the cow and her activities during 24 h

Source: CJ. CMuller and J.A. Botha 1997

Cow Behaviour

Lying Behavior

• On-farm evaluation of lying time:

• Identification of cows requiring attention

(lameness, illness, estrus)

• Assessment of facility functionality/cow

comfort

• Potential metric to assess animal well-being

4-Sight-Fionn Technologies

• Northern Ireland

• Photosensitive optic beams across barns

• Software recognizes cows

• ID’s when cows cross beams

CEA Cow View

• Feeding time

• Waiting time

• Resting time

• Mounting

• Distance Covered

Real Time Location Systems

• Using Real Time Location System (RTLS) to track

location of cows (similar to GPS)

• Better understand distribution of animals within

barns

• Information used to design better barns and

modify existing barns

• Behaviour monitoring-implications for estrus

detection, time at feedbunk, social interactions

Randi Black et al.

Kentucky Precision Monitoring

• Quantify physiological and behavioural

changes associated with events

• Estrus

• Mastitis

• Metritis

• Lameness

• Respiratory diseases

• Metabolic diseases

• Using multiple Precision Dairy Farming

technologies

AlanyaAnimal Health

• Behavioral changes

• Temperature

• Lying/Standing Time

• Grazing Time

• Lameness

• Estrus Detection

(multiple metrics)

• Locomotion Scoring

RumiWatch

• Rumination, drinking, eating behaviour

• Lying, standing, steps

C-Lock Inc.

• Greenfeed measures methane (CH4)

• Select for cows that are more

environmentally friendly

• Monitor impacts of farm changes (rations)

on greenhouse gas emissions

Body condition scoring

Body Condition Scoring

• 100% of predicted BCS were within 0.50 points

of actual BCS.

• 93% were within 0.25 points of actual BCS.

Bewley et al., 2008

Cow Sleep Monitoring

• Sleep Quality = Improved Immunity?

• New Way to Measure Cow Comfort?

Donohue, Llhamon, O’Hara, Klefot, and Bewley, 2013

Cow

Comfort

Robotic/Automatic Milking Systems

(AMS)

• AMS has gained widespread acceptance as

a way to reduce labour and improve lifestyle

of dairy farm families

• More than ………. AMS systems worldwide

• Improvements in health and milk production

have been reported

• More than $200 000 per robot (336 USD

/cow)

• One unit can perform around 150 milking

events /day – 60 to 70 cows /day

Multi-function

hydraulic robot arm

Hydraulic controlFlexibleSafeFastRobust

Water based teat cleaning selectable per cow

adjustable time

separate from milking system

Gentle and efficient teat

cleaning

pre-milking

teat drying

Clean, Dry, Stimulated Teats

Ready for milking

Teat detection with 2 lasers and video

Attach teats at up to 45º angle

45º

Real Time Quarter Milking – Optical milk meters

Spraying per cow – several spray modes

Feed manger

Indexes cow

1 feed standard

up to 4 feed

Automatic Cow Platform Cleaning

System is rinsed between each cow

Automatic cleaning of the camera

71Internal

Are AMS profitable?

• Money available for rent, interest, labour, profit,

etc. was greater “per farm” on conventional dairies

by € 15 566 but was greater per “full time

employee” per year on AMS farms

• Labour on AMS farms 29% less

• A study of 34 herds in Spain reported average

production of 1509 kg milk from 53 cows producing

29 kg milk /day (Castro, 2012)

• JTP Farms reported an average production of

2933 kg milk /VMS for 4 units milking an average

of 62 cows producing 48 kg /milk /day

What automatic monitoring technologies do you currently have on your dairy?

Most used parameters Respondent (%)

Daily milk yield 52.3

Cow activity 41.3

Not applicable1 31.2

Mastitis 25.7

Milk components (e.g. fat, protein and SCC) 24.8

Standing heat 21.1

Feeding behaviour 12.8

Temperature 12.8

Body weight 11.0

Rumination 10.1

Rumen activity 9.2

1Respondents replying “Not applicable”, were those not currently utilizing

precision technologies on their farms

Usefulness of Precision Dairy Technologies (%)

Description %

Milk yield 81

Standing heat 78

Mastitis 77

Activity 76

Temperature 60

BCS 17

Cow cleanliness 17

Heart rate 12

Position / Location 10

GHG emissions 5

75Internal

Reason no. 99

• Wrong College Degree

(N = 289, 100%)

Cautious Optimism

• Critics say it is too technical or challenging

• We are just beginning

• Precision Dairy won’t change cows or people

• Will change how they work together

• Improve farmer and cow well-being

Future Vision

• New era in dairy management

• Exciting technologies

• New ways of monitoring and improving

animal health, well-being, and

reproduction

• Analytics as competitive advantage

• Economics and human factors are key

Thank youDankie

Thank you for your attention!

Thank you

Reproduction/Feeding measurements

More about the measurement parameters

Progesterone – this hormone shows the reproductive status of each cow, including heat, pregnancy, miscarriage and reproductive diseases.

LDH – an enzyme which becomes significantly more active in cases of mastitis. LDH is used as a mastitis indicator with the focus on detecting sub-clinical cases at an early stage.

BHB – a ketone which is secreted when the liver is not functioning optimally. BHB is a good indicator of how the cow deals with the beginning of lactation. BHB indicates ketosis and other feeding-related conditions.

Urea – a part of metabolised protein which indicates whether there is an excess or deficiency in the protein supply in feed.

Source: Anna Larsson, Swedish University of Agriculture

Fertility 31%Mastitis 29%Low Yield 19%Difficult milking 6%Hoof and leg lesions 6%Udder lesions 3%Other problems 6%

Total sum 100%

Reasons for involuntary culling (Research with 160 farmers)

DeLaval Activity

In Parlour feeding:

•Reality to feed 4 feeds on any rotary, as stand alone feature

•Feed cost as % of production cost today? (about R55 per day per cow on TMR)

All stainless steel construction

Manure Plate

for a clean milking area

Lying Behavior Monitors

• On-farm evaluation of lying time:

• Identification of cows requiring attention

(lameness, illness, estrus)

• Assessment of facility functionality/cow

comfort

• Potential metric to assess animal well-being

SCR HR Tag

• Measures rumination time

• Time between cud boluses

• Monitor metabolic status