The Health Path to Advance

Dairy Sustainability

THE PROJECT

The general objectives of the proposed project are to create methods for streamlined assessment of transition management quality in dairy farms, and to help farmers make data-driven decisions to enhance cow health and welfare, and improve dairy production sustainability. To achieve these objectives, we will combine large field studies in commercial dairy farms (for collection of accurate health information) with data modelling of standardized, traditionally collected data (e.g. milk recording) and those collected by emerging technologies (e.g. sensors data). The NSERC Alliance project is divided in multiple studies, each with their specific objective and hypothesis.

RATIONALE

One of the current challenges for improving the health of transition cows is the lack of standardized measurements of cow health and transition management adequacy across the entire industry. By developing such methods, our project will allow farmers to continuously monitor their transition cow management efficiency and to make data-driven decisions to prevent future problems and minimize the consequences of the current ones. With the support of our research partners, the innovative tools for continuous streamlined monitoring of transition management quality and the associated development and dissemination of best management practices will reduce health hazards and the need for antimicrobial use, enhancing the welfare of transition dairy cows in Canada. By improving transition cows’ health and welfare, the proposed project will also promote higher milk yields, better reproduction, and longevity of cows. Moreover, targeted management strategies will be tested to reduce the use of reproductive hormones and optimize the time of culling. Combined, these deliverables will lead to improvements in cows’ lifetime production and production efficiency, economic returns, and mitigation of environmental impact, which will ultimately enhance public acceptance of dairy products and the well-being of farmers and their employees. The proposed project, therefore, will promote all components of dairy sustainability (economic, social, and environmental), the preparedness of the workforce, and the competitiveness of Canadian dairy herds.