Precision agriculture

Henk Hogeveen

What can you expect from me

(The need for) Precision dairy farming

Some examples

●Automatic milking

●Mastitis detection

●Estrus detection

Lessons to learn

Trend worldwide

Less farms

Farm seize increase

Milk production increases

●Per cow

●Per labour unit

●Per farm

Increasing need for efficiency

Cows are managed in groups .....

.........becomes a disposable product?

Current demands to dairy industry

Animal well-being

Consumer demands

Environment

Labor

Economics

Current demands to dairy industry

Animal well-being

Consumer demands

Environment

Labor

Economics

We have to reduce the use of scarce resources

So: explore the full potential of each individual dairy cow

Is individual cow management possible?

Easy

(too) difficult

Don’t even think about it

Precision dairy farming

Technology, measuring:

●Physiology

●Behaviour

●Production

Algorithms that transform data to informationIs this information useful?

Integration with other data sourcesThis can improve performanceProblems: Integration of various systems, co-operation between companies.

Decision supportWith or without interference of the farmerThis is the ultimate of precision dairy farming

The decision is the goal

Cow as individual animal

Enables management adjusted to the cow’s production level

●Milking management (times per day)

●Disease management (treatment or not)

●Reproduction management (insemination or not, intervention or not

●Feeding management

●Management by exception

Examples of technologies

Milk yield recording systems

Milk component monitors

Activity monitors

Lying and rumination behavior monitors

Milk conductivity indicators

Heat monitors

Review of sensor systems until now

Rutten et al., 2013

What can you expect from me

(The need for) Precision dairy farming

Some examples

●Automatic milking

●Mastitis detection

●Estrus detection

Lessons to learn

Benefits

Labor

●No more milking

●Reduction milking time 50 % - 80 %

Milk production

●Increased milking frequency

Udder health

●Less overmilking

●Separated quarters

●Increased milking frequency

●….

Disadvantages

More control tasks

Replacement value (investment)

Depreciation time

Maintenance

Energy and water

Udder health

●More cows per cluster

●Milking intervals

●…….

Previous studies

Normative (what-if calculations)

Automatic milking is not cost effective

Farm comparison using real data

AMS CMS

Total land use, ha 60.0 61.7

Milk quota, kg 828,761 853,620

No. of dairy cows 105 110

Milk/cow, kg 8,011 7,894

Bijl et al., 2007

Farm comparison

AMS CMS

Total land use, ha 60.0 61.7

Milk quota, kg 828,761 853,620

No. of dairy cows 105 110

Milk/cow, kg 8,011 7,894

Total labor FTE 1.45 1.87

Family labor FTE 1.26 1.69

Employee labor FTE 0.19 0.18

Source: Bijl et al., 2007

Bijl et al., 2007

Farm comparison

AMS CMS

Total land use, ha 60.0 61.7

Milk quota, kg 828,761 853,620

No. of dairy cows 105 110

Milk/cow, kg 8,011 7,894

Total labor FTE 1.45 1.87

Family labor FTE 1.26 1.69

Employee labor FTE 0.19 0.18

Dairy cows/total FTE 74 59

Milk/total FTE, kg 586,241 459,117

Source: Bijl et al., 2007

Bijl et al., 2007

No difference in margin

Source: Bijl et al., 2007

AMS CMS

Milk revenues 31.53 32.27

Miscellaneous revenues 2.82 2.27

Total revenues 34.35 34.54

Concentrate costs 4.67 4.83

Total feed costs 6.47 6.33

Health costs 0.84 0.93

Total livestock costs 2.01 2.25

Land use costs 1.28 1.46

Total costs 9.76 10.04

Margin on dairy production 24.60 24.50

Bijl et al., 2007

Other costs higher for AMS

Source: Bijl et al., 2007

AMS CMS

Margin on dairy production 24.60 24.50

Gross margin 26.51 26.34

Contractor costs 2.55 1.81

Gas, water, electricity 1.24 1.01

Maintenance/insurance of:

- machinery and equipment 3.15 2.72

- land, buildings, installations 0.88 0.60

Total non-accountable costs 9.29 7.46

Available for rent, depreciation, interest, labor and profit

17.22 18.87

€ 15,500/farmExcluding € 14,000 higher depreciation and interest for AMS

Bijl et al., 2007

Economic results second study

    AMS (n=63)

 CMS(n=337)

Cows (number)Land (ha)

Total number of cowsTotal land use

71 110

70113

Capital costs (€/100 kg milk) Expenses on buildingsDepreciation on buildingsExpenses on machinery and equipmentDepreciation on machinery and equipmentMiscellaneous depreciationTotal capital

1.562.694.573.880.01

12.71

1.542.513.482.530.04

10.10

Labor costs (€/100 kg milk) Customer workPaid labor Own labor1

Total labor

2.890.466.95

10.30

2.960.707.06

10.72

Materials costs (€/100 kg milk)

Total materials 17.17 16.99

Revenues (€/100 kg milk) Total revenues 44.87 45.33

Net output (€/100 kg milk) Total revenues – total materials 27.70 28.34

Steeneveld et al., 2012)

Study focusing on grazing(1,017 farms)

Grazing (yes/no) 21,6280 0,001

Grazing time* farm seize -0,0674 0,000

Grazing * AMS -16,1506 0,004

Van de Pol-van Dasselaar et al, 2013

Study on motivations to invest in AMS

AM-system CM-system Cows 87 91 Hectares 51 55 Quotum (kg) 752,000 738,000 Milk/ha 15.671 13.867 Milk/cow 8.682 8.118 No grazing 33 8

Hogeveen et al., 2003

Personal circumstances

AM-system CM-system Age farmer 44.1 41.3 Married 55 47 Children 2.6 2.4 No successor 12 2 No need for replacement old system

25

11

Motivations automatic milking

Motivation Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 % Less (heavy) labour 18 10 5 21 Flexibility 7 10 4 13 Milking more than twice 7 6 5 11 Less labour available 7 5 6 11 Need new milking system 9 2 4 9 Improved udder health 0 4 5 6 Higher milk production 0 6 3 6 Building new stable 2 4 1 4 Future 3 2 1 4 Other 7 10 7 15 Total 60 59 41 100

Motivations conventional milking

Motivation Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 % Costs AM-system too high 18 10 5 21 Dependency AM-system 7 10 4 13 Uncertainty AM-system 7 6 5 11 Inflexible with growing 7 5 6 11 2nd AM-system expensive 9 2 4 9 Position in barn 0 4 5 6 Other 7 10 7 15 Total 60 59 41 100

What can you expect from me

(The need for) Precision dairy farming

Some examples

●Automatic milking

●Mastitis detection

●Estrus detection

Lessons to learn

Mastitis detection

Developed in 1980’s

Sensors did not provide useful information

●Clinical mastitis, why automated detection

●Subclinical mastitis, no associated management

Never a success until automatic milking (need)

●Good enough (but far from perfect)

High capacity milking parlors: selection of cows to check

Problem: needle in a haystack

Every miling is a test 60 cows, 2,6 milkings per cow per day -> 57,000 milkings

per year 20 mastitis cases -> 0.1 % of all milkings

What’s found in the past Sensitivity

Specificity

Cavero et al., 2006 81 94

De Mol & Ouweltjes, 2001 100 96

De Mol & Woldt, 2001 100 99

De Mol et al., 1997 59 98

De Mol et al., 2001 71 97

Kamphuis et al., 2008 80 92

Kamphuis et al., 2008 50 99

Maatje et al., 1992 100 ?

Maatje et al., 1997 90 98

Mottram et al., 2007 56 82

Nielen et al., 1995 77 69

Nielen et al., 1995 84 97

Norberg et al., 2006 43 93

Sheldrake & Hoare, 1981 49 79

Specificities re-arranged

80

85

90

95

100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Total time window (days)

Sp

ecif

icit

y (%

)

Sensitivities added

40

60

80

100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Total time window (days)

Sp

ecif

icit

y/se

nsi

tivi

ty (

%)

Healthy

Mastitis is not a black-and-white situatiom

Severeclinicalmastitis

Detection of mastitis by farmer

Check report•Conductivity•Colour•Milk production deviation

•Total number of alerts

•SCC (optional)

Interpret report•Check history alert and/or check alert in the barn

Check history alert•Milkquality•Milk visits•Conductivity chart

Interpret history alert•Check alert in the barn

Check alert in the barn•Check cow•Check udder•Spurt and check milk

•CMT

Interpret check•Mastitis? •Take action!

Take action•Take milk sample

•Treat mastitis

Quick glance10 times a day – 2 times a week

Study on 7 farms

Check report•Conductivity•Colour•Milk production deviation

•Total number of alerts

•SCC (optional)

Interpret report•Check history alert and/or check alert in the barn

Check history alert•Milkquality•Milk visits•Conductivity chart

Interpret history alert•Check alert in the barn

Check alert in the barn•Check cow•Check udder•Spurt and check milk

•CMTsTUDY ON

Interpret check•Mastitis? •Take action!

Take action•Take milk sample

•Treat mastitis

Check and interpret history alert

Check report•Conductivity•Colour•Milk production deviation

•Total number of alerts

•SCC (optional)

Interpret report•Check history alert and/or check alert in the barn

Check history alert•Milkquality•Milk visits•Conductivity chart

Interpret history alert•Check alert in the barn

Check alert in the barn•Check cow•Check udder•Spurt and check milk

•CMT

Interpret check•Mastitis? Take action!

Take action•Take milk sample

•Treat mastitis

Only when alarmingDefinition of alarming varies between farmers

Check alert in the barn

Only 3,5% of the alerts are checked by the farmer!

Alerts checked by farmer (n=15)

67%

13%

20%

Clinical

Subclinical

Negative CMT

Alerts checked by researcher

Overview of the checked mastitis alerts 

Clinical mastitis Subclinical mastitis Negative CMT Total

Number of individual quarter alerts 30 47 150 227

Number of repeated quarter alerts 9 81 104 194

Total 39 128 254 421

60% 10%

46%

Checked clinical mastitis

Unchecked clinical

mastitis

Subclinical mastitis

26%

74%

100%

Question?

How bad is this?

What can you expect from me

(The need for) Precision dairy farming

Some examples

●Automatic milking

●Mastitis detection

●Estrus detection

Lessons to learn

Oestrus detection

Advantages twofold

●Labour savings

●Better estrus detection rates -> preg rates

Clear management (decision support) associated with information

Adoption rate: ± 15 % in US and Netherlands (personal communication Knijn and Bewley)

Titelstijl van model bewerken• Klik om de tekststijl van het model

te bewerken– Tweede niveau

• Derde niveau– Vierde niveau

» Vijfde niveau

Two simulations

Visual SN 50%, SP 100% Sensor SN 80%, SP 95%

Titelstijl van model bewerken• Klik om de tekststijl van het model

te bewerken– Tweede niveau

• Derde niveau– Vierde niveau

» Vijfde niveau

Financial results (*1000 €/herd/year)

Milk 330 334

Feed -128

-129

Calves

-7 -8

Inseminations

-7 -7

Culling

-7 -6

Labour

-1 -0.7

Titelstijl van model bewerken• Klik om de tekststijl van het model

te bewerken– Tweede niveau

• Derde niveau– Vierde niveau

» Vijfde niveau

Investment analysis

Cash flow(€/year)

Internal Rate of Return(%)

Pay back period(Years)

Average 3,151 11% 7

What can you expect from me

(The need for) Precision dairy farming

Some examples

●Automatic milking

●Mastitis detection

●Estrus detection

Final words

Go back to the individual cow

One size does not fit all!!

We are throwing away a part of the potential of our dairy cows!!!!

Precision dairy farming is going to increase

What is the vet going to do?

Use data from sensor systems

Adapt herd health programs

…….

Thank you for your attention

@henkhogeveen

animal-health-management.blogspot.com

On-line courses on Veterinary Economics on:

www.elevatehealth.eu