The Manager - November 2024
Automated health monitoring using sensors: What have we learned and strategies for on-farm implementation
Julio Giordano, Martin Perez, and Clara Rial
The burden and challenges of cow health monitoring is growing as qualified personnel becomes scarce, labor costs rise, and herd sizes increase. Minimizing disruption of cow routines is also important to support improved performance. In response to industry needs, availability of automated health monitoring systems has exploded. Most of the systems use wearable or non-wearable sensors to monitor one or more behavioral, physiological, or performance parameter associated with cow health. Rumination, activity, lying behavior, body temperature, and milk yield features are used alone or in combination to generate alerts that indicate potential health problems. Dairy managers are most interested in best use of these technologies to improve herd management.
MyCow$: A novel tool to improve dairy farm business decision-making through real-time estimation of individual cow profitability
Julio Giordano, Martin Perez, Allison Kerwin, Sebastian Aguero, and Angela George
Good business decision-making in dairy farming depends on the availability of high quality and current data about the profitability of the business production unit: the cow. Every day producers are faced with important decisions related to culling or keeping, breeding, grouping, treating, and feeding cows, among many others. Unfortunately, despite the many technologies and data available today, dairy producers continue to lack tools that provide an accurate and detailed account of individual cow profitability, with minimal effort, and in real time. Thus, most of the individual cow decision-making continues to be done based on averages for the herd or groups, parameters that do not truly reflect cow profitability, and in some cases perception or "gut feeling". To help dairy managers overcome this barrier to good business decision-making, our research group developed the "MyCow$", a software tool that leverages dairy data to automatically calculate the profitability of individual cows in real time.
Targeted Reproductive Management with automated estrus detection during early lactation optimizes herd management and performance
Julio Giordano, Ana Laplacette, and Clara Rial
As the dairy industry evolves and new strategies are required to improve herd performance, management, and sustainability measures, a potential approach to improve reproductive efficiency, optimize herd management practices, and increase profitability is Targeted Reproductive Management (TRM). Also known as “precision” or “personalized” management, this approach to herd management consists of two keys steps. First, subgroups of cows within a herd that share some biological or performance potential characteristics (predictors) associated with reproduction and performance must be identified ). Second, targeted management strategies specifically designed to optimize cow performance, herd profitability, or alternative metrics of interest are implemented.
Dairying in Colombia: Grazing cows contending with subclinical hypocalcemia
Geneva Graef
Globally, whether working in a continuously housed dairy or a grazing herd, it is generally accepted that the transition period brings the complexity of shifting metabolic priorities. Grazing dairy cows may have distinctive risk factors and a different level of prevalence to consider when assessing the challenge of subclinical hypocalcemia (SCH); however they are no less at risk of suffering from similar loss of performance as continuously housed cows. While many research questions remain regarding mechanisms, direct causes, and best management, work in the current study emphasizes the importance of SCH in grazing systems. To limit losses associated with calcium dysregulation like SCH, it is prudent to pursue interventions that can be applied to a diverse range of systems and management practices.
Increasing metabolizable protein supply: A strategy to increase early lactation performance
Trent Westhoff, Thomas Overton, and Sabine Mann
Dairy producers and nutrition consultants alike understand the importance of a well-managed nutritional program during the transition period for the health and productivity of their herd. The success, or lack thereof, of these nutrition programs has potential to affect the productivity and longevity of cows and thereby influence farm profitability. Our research data suggest an opportunity to improve early lactation performance by increasing the metabolizable protein (MP) supply during the postpartum period; and during an appropriate economic situation, producers might benefit from feeding a high level of MP pre- and postpartum.
Accelerating livestock methane mitigation and monitoring technologies
Joseph McFadden
The Accelerating Livestock Innovations for Sustainability (ALIS) program was developed at Cornell University to expedite the development, approval, and adoption of safe and effective technologies that help farmers optimize their production system while protecting our environment. A priority of the ALIS program is to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from livestock agriculture. The initiative has spearheaded numerous investments in faculty, staff, facilities, and equipment, including an Animal Respiration Chamber facility, to support the organization and action of strategic teams that aim to solve long-standing challenges faced by livestock agriculture.