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Farmers around the country are embracing technology in the form of automated animal monitoring (i.e. wearables including collars, ear tags and boluses), virtual fences, digital assistants to help with pasture planning, apps for compliance and more.
DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Callum Eastwood says that technology is a hot topic among farmers, and there are many questions about how to get the most out of their investment. The industry-good organisation has several research projects underway on the subject.
One of the projects, focused on wearable technology, will assess how data can drive better decisions, and improve farm performance.
As with many DairyNZ projects, this piece of research has been shaped by farmers and rural professionals who took part in a series of workshops to identify research priorities. From these, five priorities emerged:
- Data access for benchmarking - How can we share data safely, so farmers benefit from industry-wide insight
- Understanding behaviours - What does 'normal' look like for cows across different farms and regions?
- Maximising the value of data - What are wearable data-based KPIs at different times of the season?
- Better decisions - How can wearable data at key times of the season guide feeding, transition and reproductive decisions that lift productivity and profitability?
- Selecting resilient animals - Can behaviour data help us identify cows with high performance and longevity?
DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Susanne Meier says benchmarking was a key area of interest.
"Farmers wanted to be able to compare animal health and reproduction metrics derived from wearable sensors for their farm system and also in their region, to see what high performance really looks like and find opportunities for improvement, and we will start on this area first, working with farmers to populate data sets," she says.
"Farmers also wanted to understand new key performance indicators (KPIs) from wearable data and how they link to the established KPIs that already drive farm performance. For example, exploring how rumination and activity levels might relate to in-calf rates and profitability."
Gen AI Use 'Limited'
With technology comes more data, and DairyNZ is also exploring how farmers are using Generative AI to decipher and apply information on farm.
A DairyNZ-funded study conducted by Rachel Durie at Perrin Ag Consultants last year found Gen AI use is still largely limited to "early adopters".
"It's still early days but we did find that those using Gen AI fall into three main groups: using it to provide insights or recommendations for task enhancement; using it to improve the efficiency of repetitive tasks; and for communication with staff and team coordination," says DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Callum Eastwood.
"Most were using Gen AI for decision-support - instead of Google and other search options. I think one of the key benefits that most farmers are valuing is the speed at which it can generate insights and provide information. One farmer had even created a digital version of their farm so they could try out different practices and see what worked. Others were simply using it to draft emails and template documents for their team."
As the research progresses, DairyNZ will maintain ongoing collaboration with farmers and stakeholders, and share insights on how wearable technology and AI can help turn data into better on-farm decisions.
