Does technology pay for itself? Henk Hogeveen, Wilma Steeneveld, Mariska vd Voort and Claudia Kamphuis

What can you expect from me A little history and overview Success factors for precision technology Adoption of sensor systems Effects of mastitis detection systems Effects of estrus detection systems Wrap up

Initiated by cow identification systems in 1970s Recording of individual milk yield Allocating feed/concentrates to individual cows

Boosted by development of automatic milking systems in 1980s

Automatic milking systems are marketed since 1992 6 main brands

Boosted by development of automatic milking systems in 1990s 1992 first commercial farm in NL (Bottema, 1992) >10,000 farms globally (Rodenburg, 2013) 3,615 (19.5%) Dutch farms (Stichting KOM, 2015)

Sensor development was boosted by Automatic milking Replacement of human senses

And further pushed by other factors Government Mom, where does the milk come from? Increasing herd seize From the factory, honey Society

There are A LOT of sensor technologies 12

Electrical Conductivity Cheap technology Low in maintenance costs Udder or quarter level In-line handheld Most used to detect abnormal milk or mastitis Limited performance for mastitis detection (Rutten et al., 2013)

Other (more sophisticated and expensive) sensor technologies were introduced to monitor cow health and productivity Udder Health - Electrical Conductivity - Milk yield - Somatic Cell Count - (Milk) Temperature - Colour Milk Composition - Milk yield - Fat and protein content - Lactose content - Somatic cell count

Other (more sophisticated and expensive) sensor technologies were introduced to monitor cow health and productivity Fertility - Progesterone - Activity - Rumination Milk Composition - Milk yield - Fat and protein content - Lactose content - Somatic cell count

Other (more sophisticated and expensive) sensor technologies were introduced to monitor cow health and productivity Fertility - Progesterone - Activity - Rumination Cow Composition - Weight - Body Condition Score

Other (more sophisticated and expensive) sensor technologies were introduced to monitor cow health and productivity Metabolic disorders - Activity - Rumination - Milk yield - SCC - ph Cow Composition - Weight - Body Condition Score

There is A LOT of potential Improved health, welfare Increase productivity Increased efficiency Improved product quality Objective monitoring Improved social lifestyle..

Success factors System specifications Cost efficiency Non-economic factors

System specification Description of (prototype) technology Algorithms that transform data to information Is this information useful? Integration with other data sources This can improve performance Problems: Integration of various systems, co-operation between companies. Decision support With or without interference of the farmer This is the ultimate of precision dairy farming

Cost efficiency Benefits > costs Sounds easy but... Costs are clear Benefits often indirect Belief of effect... There are a few economic analyses (scientifically) published Portfolio problem: other fields of investment in comparison to precision dairy

Non-monetary factors Risk Availability of labor/capital Farmers goals/preferences

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 Steeneveld et al., 2015, COMPAG

Farmers (n) When did CMS farmers invest in sensors (n = 81) 40 Mastitis Rumination Estrus 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Year

Farmers (n) When did AMS farmers invest in sensors (n = 121) (Steeneveld and Hogeveen, 2015) 35 Mastitis Rumination Estrus 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Year

Milk sensors used (n = 512) 100 80 60 40 20 0 AMS CMS

Estrus detection sensors used (n = 512) 80 60 40 AMS CMS 20 0 Activity cows Activity young Temperature Progesterone

Oestrus detection sensors used (n = 512) 80 60 40 AMS CMS 20 0 Rumination Weighing

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

Reasons to invest (AMS farms; %) Investment reason EC (n = 112) Rumination (n = 11) Activity (n = 50) Reduce labor 1 9 6 Improve health/ reprod 14 55 72 Insight in health 14 82 42 Not a conscious decision 97 54 48 Improve farm profitability 13 45 48 34

Automated mastitis detection: effects Farms AMS farms CMS farms No sensors Before After Before After Number of cows 86 82 97 127 159 % growth in size 3.5 2.6 4.2 6.0 9.7 Milk production (kg / cow / year) 8,343 8,398 8,558 8,371 8,179

Somatic cell count (x1,000 cells/ml) Automated mastitis detection: Somatic cell count 240 235 230 225 220 215 210 205 200 195 190 No sensor system AMS farms before investment AMS farms after investment CMS farms before investment CMS farms after investment

Estrus detection sensors Farms AMS farms CMS farms No sensors Before After Before After Number of cows 85 86 102 104 131 % growth in size 3.5 2.8 5.3 4.0 6.1 Milk production (kg/cow/year 8,342 8,473 8,632 8,245 8,177

Days to first service Effects on reproduction 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 No sensor system AMS farms before investment AMS farms after investment CMS farms before investment CMS farms after investment

Automated oestrus detection: model calculations

Cow Model Probabilities are adjusted for each simulated week Simulated cow Parity, production level Calving P(1 st ovulation) P(culling) SN 50% SP 100% SN 80% SP 95% 108/cow 3600/herd 10years Checking each alert visually P(early embryonic death) Ovulation Heat detection P(heat) P(heat detected) Insemination after voluntary waiting period P(pregnant) P(culling) P(culling) General culling Culling due to fertility issues - Max 6 inseminations - Not pregnant in wk 35 Cow pregnant Output cow place /year Next parity Replacement heifer Milk yield Number of inseminations Number of calves produced Feed intake Number of culled cows Number of false alerts from PLF x Milk price Labour costs Cost for AI Costs/revenues of calves Costs feed Costs for culling Costs of false alerts PLF (labour or AI) Costs of PLF technology: investment, maintenance, depreciation, replacement of faulty sensors At farm level

Results Cash flow: 3,202 $CA / year Cost-Benefit ratio: $CA 1.72 Discounted payback period: 8 years SN 80%;SP 95% 108/cow 3600/herd 10years Checking each alert visually Investment pays off (Rutten et al., 2014)

Economics of estrus detection: Practise ($CA/100 kg milk) No sensor AMS CMS Before After Before After Capital costs 14.53 13.61 a 19.56 b 15.51 c 15.89 c Labour costs 17.33 16.37 a 15.82 a 15.82 c 14.60 c Variable costs 27.23 26.12 a 27.72 a 25,59 c 26.94 c Revenues 64.79 61,50 a 64.93 b 64.08 c 66,05 c Profit 5.70 5.40 a 1.83 b 7.15 c 8.62 c

Difference between theory and practise The potential of sensors is not always reached Why??

Use of sensor information is limited (Hogeveen et al., 2013) 5% of generated mastitis alert lists are visually checked Reasons not to check alerts included: No flakes on filter (28%) No deviation in yield (19%) Repeatedly on list (10%) Malfunctioning (4%) Too busy (10%) No EC increase (5%)

Many mastitis cases are not detected (Hogeveen et al., 2013) 75% less clinical mastitis and higher SCC

Use of sensor information is limited 22% of farm owners indicated that expectations did not match performance reality 24% of farm owners indicated that learning support was not as expected (Eastwood et al., 2015)

Too much information without knowing what to do with it (Russell and Bewley, 2013) 50

Farmers attitude is important Being in control Letting-go Business optimisers Convenience seekers

Farmers attitude Eager to understand and learn the system Not having the time or skills Innovators/ambassadors

Sensors can pay for themselves.... and at the same time: Improve dairy cattle health and welfare Improve the efficiency in the dairy value chain All sensors? I am not sure about that

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