Introduction

With a rapidly growing world population, it is estimated that protein production will have to double by 2050 with half of the available resources. Furthermore, it is predicted that rising wealth shall increase the demand for high quality food with optimal nutritional value. Meanwhile, consumers are becoming more involved in food production, and the demand for high quality food is predicted to rise parallel to increasing wealth. It is clear that dairy farmers worldwide are facing a challenge.

Dutch farmers are already facing the need to farm with optimal efficiency to stay profitable. While continuously striving for continuity as margins on dairy are under threat, current European market developments and new Dutch environmental regulations are squeezing the Dutch dairy farmers into a corner. The number of dairy farms is decreasing but the number of cows in The Netherlands is still growing. 2015 was a particularly challenging year. When the milk quota was removed in April, consequently, herds started to expand. What quickly followed however, were new regulations on phosphate emissions imposed to prevent The Netherlands from exceeding thresholds set in Brussels. Consequently, Dutch dairy farmers now need to justify their phosphate emission by their so-called allocated ‘phosphate rights’ which in many cases are based on a pre-growth herd size. The seemingly contradictory changes follow up on restrictions on the use of antibiotics that were introduced in 2014. The constant adaptation that is asked of the Dutch dairy farmers is resulting in a sense of insecurity about what is yet to come. 

Meanwhile, as technology is rapidly developing, companies are continuously offering new products to dairy farmers as a means to help farm at top efficiency. New terms such as ‘smart dairy farming’ or ‘precision livestock farming’ have popped up with increasing frequency in Dutch dairy farming jargon. The trend towards adopting new technology in aid of optimal farming in The Netherlands is well visible in the increased use of the milking robot. Currently, it is estimated that approximately 15% of Dutch dairy farmers are actively milking with one or multiple robots. CRV year statistics for 2015 show that of the top producing 16 dairy farms in The Netherlands this year, 7 are currently automating milk production. The surge of technological development is however producing products that are very novel which often require a considerable investment before showing returns. Although welcomed by a good proportion of Dutch farmers, the lengthy period of acclimation and the sometimes prerequisite change of management that often comes with the new way of farming ensures considerable hesitation as well. When relying on machines that yield large amounts of data and statistics, is there still emotion left in farming?

Genomic Herd Management

When following the trend to higher adoption of technology for more efficient management in the field of cattle breeding, one cannot miss the rise in genomic testing. The active and routine genotyping of heifer calves, have picked up rapidly in the recent 5 years, particularly in The United States of America and France. While the adoption of genomic selection has suffered a lengthy period of skepticism, milking daughters of young genomic bulls are slowly replacing the skepticism with trust. Genomic testing uses genomic selection technology to estimate genomic breeding values for female animals in the exact same manner as it does for bulls. As such, farmers receive information about the genetic merit of their young animals with twice the reliability compared to parent average. This allows for strategic young stock selection and reduces the risk of raising costly cattle which do not contribute to herd profitability when milking. Alongside the genomic breeding values, genomic tests also yield information on any genetic defect or genetic characteristics of the animal. Avoiding carrier matings, for example the recently discovered CDH mutation, or carrier matings towards a polled or A2 herd can thereby be made.

Figure 1 shows the exponential growth of the number of low density female genotypes entering the US national breeding value estimation (Cole, 2015). In France, approximately 8% of the dairy farms have actively genotyped in 2014 (Le Mezec et al., 2015). The Netherlands currently counts just over 300 herds which have genotyped their whole herd and use the genomic information for the strategic breeding of their herd, towards individual breeding goals. Data collected on these 300 farms have shown that approximately 10–13% of calves get wrongly assigned to either the complete bottom or top of the list when ranked on their parent average breeding value for milk yield, compared to their ranking based on their estimated genomic breeding value for the same trait. Consequently, selecting the top 75% of animals for breeding the next generation based on genomic merit resulted in an average breeding value for milk in this group of +100kg milk compared to a group selected on parent average (Eaglen et al., 2015). The current value of genomic testing is expected to increase in the next decade, as is the adoption of routine genotyping. CRV expects 50% of Dutch farmers to genotype every newborn animal by 2020. In addition, given the large amount of research on the link between genotype and phenotype currently conducted globally, it is almost impossible not to anticipate that in 10 years’ time, much more information on the future performance of an animal shall be extracted from the DNA profile in support of herd management.

Sensor Technology

Alongside genomic technology, a trend towards the use of sensor technology is also visible in The Netherlands. Pedometers that offer aid in heat detection are most commonly used, but farmers also have access to sensors that allows for precise measuring of physical activity, rumination activity, feed intake, temperature and blood concentrations.

Next developing sensors give farmers information on the remote measuring of body condition of an animal through imaging technologies as well as the precise location of an animal in the barn for quick retrieval. Nutrition apps allow precision feeding by listing exact measurements of ingredients for optimal feed mixtures, validated by sensors taking samples of the generated feed. Routine sampling of milk has also been used to great success. Milk sampling results now not only provide fat and protein content but can also partition these in the exact fatty acid and whey vs. casein composition as well indicate an early detection of pregnancy. 

A future vision: The Internet of Things and The Connected Cow

Continuous investment into R&D projects ensure that the above listed applications are just the beginning. The International Data Corporation (IDC, www.idc.com) expects that by the end of 2020, 212 billion devices will be globally connected to the internet. This represents 40 times more devices than people. The linkage of devices, and data collected by these devices, via the Internet is referred to as ‘The Internet of Things’. Agriculture is expected to not be an exception. When all sensors, apps and genomic information are eventually linked through their connection to WiFi, this will likely lead the dairy industry’s version of ‘The Internet of Things’, or more appropriately: ‘The Connected Cow’. A first cooperative project that makes footsteps towards this connection of several novel applications for support in dairy farming is Smart Dairy Farming (www.smartdairyfarming.nl) of which Lely, AgriFirm, CRV, Wageningen University, Utrecht University and Friesland Campina are among the collaborating partners.

Back to the farmer

For the farmer, industry expects that subsequent large amounts of created data, statistics and accompanied advice allows high return on investment, when abided by. Optimal monitoring of all herd management aspects as well as planning out specific breeding strategies to increase the herd’s genetic level facilitates management at the required efficiency. However, fully trusting generated data and resulting statistics, without the instinctive need to actually observe the animals as an additional factor in the decision making is not a trivial matter. Assuming the current market circumstances and the future world perspectives for the dairy industry shall remain to allow little space for flexibility in herd management. Dairy farmers are passionate and a large portion of emotion separates a farmer from a general businessman. Hesitation and skepticism to the rapid changes in the industry are therefore largely present. Will there still be room for future dairy farmers to carry out their profession with the same amount of emotion as their predecessor? Current anecdotal evidence in The Netherlands suggests that despite present reluctance, adoption of varying degrees of technological aids has also unburdened the Dutch dairy farmer, allowing more time with family. Dairy farmers of the future, often having enjoyed higher education, shall likely not experience a reduced passion in dairying but rather a transformed one. Willing to be businessmen and women, they shall likely maintain their passion to make optimal use of all available opportunities for the successful continuation of his or her business. They will be ready for the challenge that faces food producers worldwide, in the decades to come.

References

Cole, John. (2015). AGIL, USDA http://www.slideshare.net/jbcole Le Mezec, P., et al. (2015). Genomics, sexed semen: changes in reproduction choices in French dairy herds, EAAP, Warsaw, Poland. Eaglen, S., et al. (2015). Genomic testing of cows and heifers: An industry perspective. EAAP, Warsaw, Poland.