Researchers aim to improve dairy cow efficiency with $1m grant

A team of Purdue University researchers has received a $1 million (AU$1.5m) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to improve feed efficiency and consistency on dairy farms by using automated video analytics systems. The grant is among $9.6 million in recent NIFA investments supporting 12 projects in animal innovation systems.

According to Jacquelyn Boerman, associate professor of animal sciences, feed costs are the top expense for dairy farms. Improving the consistency of feed and knowing what individual cows are eating can help manage feed better.

The dairy industry aims to become carbon neutral by 2050 via various approaches, including modifying the environment of the cow rumen and managing manure to reduce methane emissions. Boerman’s team will focus on enhancing dairy cow efficiency by providing consistent feed and measuring how much they eat.

Boerman will assess feed composition for consistency, which improves milk production. Amy Reibman, Elmore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will handle video recording logistics and data analytics.

The initial testing phase will be carried out primarily at the Purdue Dairy Unit, and the researchers hope it will have commercial farm applications in future.

According to researcher David Buckmaster, Dean’s Fellow for Digital Agriculture, the project, if successful, will make it possible to measure feed intake on a per-animal basis in group settings.

Buckmaster will blend early-career work on forages, feeding, total mixed ration (TMR) for dairy cows and particle size with more recent work in digital architectural data pipelines.

His role will include assisting with the team’s TMR uniformity experiments and feed characterisation.

“I expect there will be some analysis and modelling needed to go from raw bulk volume measurements to per-animal intake, too. That will involve density and moisture content aspects as well as appropriately dividing feed disappearance when cows are side by side,” Buckmaster said.

The project’s video analytics component will be designed to enhance understanding of the visual data that farmers depend on for decision-making.

According to Reibman, the goal is to design a system that can augment farmers’ abilities to make decisions based on things they see.

The team’s guiding principles are to obtain the data they need with placement of cameras and other equipment that dairy farmers will not have to work around.

Linda Pfeiffer, who leads the project’s social science team, specialises in upstream, dialogic and coproduction communication models. According to Pfeiffer, the team is taking feedback from stakeholders during the project, engaging farmers, nutritionists, veterinarians and industry representatives.

The social science team also includes Professor Mark Tucker and PhD candidate Rob Weiner, both in the Department of Agricultural Sciences Education and Communication.

Image credit: Purdue University Photo/Tom Campbell.