Optimization of the management on dairy cattle farms by efficient use of performance indicators.

General introduction

Dairy farmers have different performance indicators for milk production, udder health, fertility and farm economy through their milk control data and management or accountancy software. The aim of the current project is to give farmers tools to quickly and efficiently evaluate these indicators. This will allow them to take the correct measures for improvement. Therefore it is aimed to distill efficient and straight forward action plans from the available data which may directly lead to better farm management.

Research approach

During the first phase of the project, performance indicators will be collected on 50 Flemish model farms. The collected data will be compared among these 50 farms and correlations between different indicators will be calculated. The collaboration between the different research partners will allow further fine-tuning of these performance indicators and lead to the inititiation of action plans for 20 of the 50 model farms for some of their least performing indicators. During phase three we will develop an online calculator which can be used by all dairy farmers in order to interpret their indicators and propose a direct action plan. This online calculator will remain available after finishing the project.

Relevance/Valorisation

The results of the project will be disseminated to the dairy farm sector in articles for national agricultural journals and in workshops. The expertise on the performance indicators and the efficiency of the proposed changing pathways for the model farms can demonstrate to the sector how important the links between indicators, changing pathway and economic results of the farms are. In order to maximize the performance of his herd, it is important that the dairy farmer is able to judge his performance as correctly and objectively as possible and that he takes the correct measures for improvement using the online calculator.

Funding provider(s)
Vlaamse Overheid - L&V ADLO