Using artificial intelligence to improve feed efficiency of lactating dairy cows monitored by remote sensing devices

Lead Applicant: John Cant

Research Priority: Competitive Production Systems 

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2023/2024

Research Centre: Ontario Dairy Research Centre

Research Summary: Under a Food from Thought project, we are developing an AI system to formulate and automatically deliver individualized rations to freestall-housed dairy cows at the Ontario Dairy Research Centre in Elora based on automated measurements of their feed intakes, milk production, body weight and condition changes, and respiratory gas exchanges. The overall goal is to improve feed efficiency in line with developing competitive dairy production systems. The AI system depends on a data integration pipeline whose construction is the focus of this project. We will produce digital dashboards that graphically present user-customized data on key nutritional performance indicators (KPIs) of a group of cows. Analytics will be generated to describe these nutritional KPIs of individual cows in the group at the current time, to predict how individuals will perform in the immediate future, and to prescribe dietary interventions that will improve KPIs in the immediate future.