Data Driven Dairy Decision For Farmers (4D4F) aims at developing a network for dairy farmers, dairy technology suppliers, data companies, dairy advisors, veterinarians and researchers to improve the decision making on dairy farms based on data generated by sensors.

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Modern breeding and new technology improve fertility among cows

Author: Sofia Lindman (KSLA & Hushållningssällskapet) - Date: December 10, 2018

Systems with different types of automatic registration have been developed to assist in dairy cow management. For example, they give alert if a cow needs to be treated or if it is time to inseminate. A study was performed to investigate whether a more effective breeding for fertility can be developed by using information from automatically collected and analyzed milk progesterone from the Herd Navigator system along with classic fertility measurements and information about the cows’ genome.

We want your opinion!

Date: December 7, 2018

Every year, 4D4F sends out a questionnaire to capture the needs and issues that precision livestock researchers should address in the future. The feedback from you, the community of practice, allows researchers to focus on what's truly important for farmers and cows. Which issues are you -as a farmer, advisor, veterinarian or technology provider- struggling with at the moment, and how can new tools help you overcome those issues? 

Software & technology benefiting a farm in Wales

Author: Ben Thompson (IfA) - Date: December 3, 2018

Capel farm is a dairy farm situated in Carmarthenshire, South West Wales. Milking 170 cows, calving all year round and rearing their own replacements. All animals are housed indoors except replacement heifers. 

Steve Morse, the farm manager, pictured with a cow with a CowManager ear tag. 

The average yield of the Capel Farm herd is 11,500 litres at a quality of 4.05% butterfat and 3.23% protein.

How to set up standard operating procedures (SOPs)

Date: November 28, 2018

Interpreting farm data -whether it be derived from sensors or not- is not always straightforward. Well-directed standard operating procedures (SOPs) on how to implement farm data can support dairy farmers and their personnel in their daily activities and decision making. One of the goals of 4D4F was to develop, test and implement a series of SOPs on different subjects (e.g. udder health, metabolic diseases, grassland management ...). A renewed version of the 4D4F report on making SOPs can be found here. 

 

The robot that feeds you

Author: Maarten Crivits (ILVO) - Date: November 27, 2018

One of the key roles of technology has always been to make it more easier on us. This seems to be particularly the case with automatic feeding systems: feeding your cows with a robot significantly reduces labor efforts. Important question however always remains: ‘does it fit my farm?’, both technically and economically.

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