I just gave a opening keynote on the North American Precision dairy farming conference. I showed some data that we recently collected on the use of sensor systems and the effects of these systems on farm performance.

1. Precision dairy farming overseas
Experiences and developments from the Netherlands
Henk Hogeveen and Wilma Steeneveld

2. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

3. Cattle through the last 14 years (* 1,000)
Now: ~1.3 bln kg milk
3750000
3800000
3850000
3900000
3950000
4000000
4050000
4100000
1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014

4. Grass-based system
 Summer
● Fresh grass + corn silage + concentrates
 Winter
● Grass silage + corn silage + concentrates
● Half mixed ratio

6. Dutch dairy sector
 Increasing farm seizes
 Mostly own (family) labour
 Half grass-based system
● Grazing under pressure (farm management)
● Stimulated (societal preference)
 Volatile milk prices
 More challenges on management

7. and …..
 Animal health is becoming more and more important
 Stimulated by dairy industry
● Improvement of udder health
● Improvement of claw health
● Improvement of longevity

8. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

9. Automatic milking
 1970’s: Individual animal identification
 1980’s: Sensor development
 1990’s: Automatic milking
 Five systems, different brands
 First commercial farms: 1992
 19% of Dutch dairy farms

13. Automatic milking is not an issue anymore
 They function
 Service and maintenance (infrastructure) is good
 Reasons pro
● Labour savings, quality of labour
● More milkings per cow
 Reasons against
● Price (investment)
● Flexibility of expansion

14. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

15. Sensor system
Sensor
Data
Alert
Algorithm
SOP
Decision
support
Decision
Other
data
Rutten et al., 2013, J. Dairy Sci.

16. Use of sensor systems in the Netherlands
 Questionnaire study: 1,672 Dutch dairy farmers (Accon-
AVM)
 512 (31%) responded
● 212 had sensor systems (41 %)
 Permission to use MPR data: 414 (37 % with sensors)
 Available accountancy data: 217 farms
Steeneveld et al., 2015, J. Dairy Sci.
Steeneveld & Hogeveen, 2015, J. Dairy Sci

17. Sensor systems in use (%; n=152)
103 AMS farms 49 CMS farms
Electrical conductivity sensor 98 41
Colour sensor 62 2
Somatic cell count sensor 15 0
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) sensor 2 2

18. Sensor systems in use (%; n=152)
103 AMS farms 49 CMS farms
Electrical conductivity sensor 98 41
Colour sensor 62 2
Somatic cell count sensor 15 0
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) sensor 2 2
Activity meters or pedometers for dairy cows 46 94
Progesterone sensor 1 2
Milk temperature sensor 50 6
Weighing platform 31 6
Fat and protein sensor 22 0
Rumination activity sensor 11 20
Temperature sensor 6 18
Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) sensor 2 2
Urea sensor 1 2
Other sensor systems 4 8
Activity meters or pedometers for young stock 13 35

19. Year of investment (CMS farms)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Mastitis Rumination Estrus

20. Reasons to invest (CMS farms; %)
Rumination (10) Activity (57) Temperature (4)
Reduce labor 30 39 6
Improve health 70 81 25
Insight in health 60 46 0
Not a concise
decision
10 4 50
Improve
profitability
30 47 0
Other 10 5 25

21. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

22. Udder health sensors
Farms AMS farms CMS farms
No sensors Before sensors After sensors Before sensors After sensors
Number of cows
% growth in size
Milk production
(lbs/cow/year)
86
3.5
18,354
(8,343)
82
2.6
18,476
(8,398)
97
4.2
18,828
(8,558)
127
6.0
18,416
(8,371)
159
9.7
17,994
(8,179)

23. Effects on udder health
190
195
200
205
210
215
220
225
230
235
240
No sensor system AMS farms before
investment
AMS farms after
investment
CMS farms before
investment
CMS farms after
investment
Somaticcellcount(*1,000cells/ml)

24. Estrus detection sensors
Farms AMS farms CMS farms
No sensors Before sensors After sensors Before sensors After sensors
Number of cows
% growth in size
Milk production
(lbs/cow/year)
85
3.5
18,352
(8,342)
86
2.8
18,641
(8,473)
102
5.3
18,990
(8,632)
104
4.0
18,139
(8,245)
131
6.1
17,989
(8,177)

25. Effects on reproduction
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
No sensor system AMS farms before
investment
AMS farms after
investment
CMS farms before
investment
CMS farms after
investment
Daystofirstservice

26. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

27. Theoretic calculations estrus detection
 Advantages twofold
● Labour savings
● Better estrus detection rates -> preg rates
 Clear management (decision support) associated with
information
Visual SN 50%, SP 100% Sensor SN 80%, SP 95%

28. 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 3,259 11% 7
Rutten et al., 2014 J. Dairy Sci.
$US = € 0.89

29. Reality ($/100 lbs milk)
No sensor AMS CMS
Before After Before After
Capital costs 5.74 5.34a 7.68b 6.09c 6.28c
Labour costs 6.30 5.95a 5.75a 5.75c 5.31c
Variable costs 9.44 9.11a 9.5a 8.85c 9.29c
Revenues 23.56 22.36a 23.61b 23.30c 24.01c
Profit 2.07 1.97a 0.66b 2.60c 3.14c

30. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

31. aantall
en NL
noeme
n
FIRST STEP: 2011 – 2014
Co-operation project
3 large co-operatieons
7 companies
5 research organisations
7 farmers
Goal:
Support dairy farmers in caring for individual animals
Good health, longer life and longer production time
of cows

32. 32
The cow central
Farmer rules
Real time models of
different parties
Sensors of
different
companies
Other data
sources
InfoBroker: Open
platform for sensor
data
Work
instructions
Dit project is mogelijk gemaakt door:

33. What can you expect from me
 Developments in Dutch dairy industry
 Automatic milking
 Use of sensor systems
 Effect of sensor systems
 Economic potential vs reality
 Sharing data
 Wrap up

34. 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

35. 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!!!!
 Dutch farmers do not fully utilize potential

37. Thank you for your attention
I wish you a great conference
@henkhogeveen
animal-health-management.blogspot.com
www.slideshare.net/henkhogeveen
Thank you for your attention
Welcome in Leeuwarden 2016