Data acquisition in Precision Livestock Farming for improved calf rearing

Abstract

The networking of electronic process control systems of- fers new possibilities for individual calf management. The different systems are implemented as automatic sys- tems or robots in order to reduce labor. Within this paper, the experimental setup of the underlying investigation and first results with a statistical evaluation of feeding data are presented. Intake amounts of water and dry mat- ter as a function of age are shown. The results require an individual adaptation of the milk-drinking programme. All known authors either refer separately to drinking wa- ter, feed concentrate, forage intake or body weight but so far there has been no evaluation of combining these data. Use of computer-controlled interlinked feeding systems allows economic advantages in many respects and pro- vides a comprehensive decision-support system for the management.