Milk volume and composition; feed costs; market prices and weather; and cow health and genetics are just a few of the data streams swirling around dairies.
Milk volume and composition; feed costs; market prices and weather; and cow health and genetics are just a few of the data streams swirling around dairies.
“Dairy farmers are inundated with data that they cannot use to their fullest extent,” says Victor Cabrera, a professor of dairy science and Extension specialist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of Dairy Brain, an ambitious project to integrate dairy data to help farmers make useful, real-time decisions.
The project, now in its third year, aims to develop software that provides farmers with continuous readouts on the state of their operations and the health of their herds. The software could ultimately provide information on daily income after feed costs, predict the development of diseases likes mastitis, and help farmers assess the value of their animals to guide herd management.
Read more: University of Wisconsin-Madison
A herd of Holsteins during a milking session at the Sunburst Dairy Farm in Belleville, Wisconsin. UW researchers are asking dairy farmers, producers and equipment manufacturers to integrate dairy data to help farmers make useful, real-time decisions. (Photo Credit: BRYCE RICHTER)
