The Dairy Industry Is Increasing Production With Big Data

Dairy is one of the largest sub divisions of the farming industry. We rely on dairy for many of the foods and beverages we consume as well as for essential vitamins. With such a high demand for dairy products, how do the dairy farmers supply the demand and how can they optimize their production?

We don’t often think of farmers sitting in front of a computer screen analyzing data, but that is what is starting to occur on dairy farms around the world. Just as I had mentioned in a previous post about Data, Drones and Farming, farmers are turning to big data to increase their production efficiency. Farmers are able to monitor their herds of cows like never before and the results are paying off.

Most farms manage a vast amount of cows and must be able to keep them healthy and viable as long as possible. Like any business you want to be as efficient as possible, which in this case means producing more milk with fewer cows. The way to do this is to analyze data on each cow to determine which cows produce the most milk and if any cows are experiencing illnesses or malnutrition. The quicker farmers can detect issues with their cows, the faster they can properly care for the animal and return her to creating milk.

Farmers are collecting data on their cows by placing RFID tags on their ears to track the animal, making it much easier to detect issues and manage large quantities of animals. As cows cannot tell you if they aren’t feeling well, these sensors allow farmers to understand why a cow may be producing less milk on a given day and how to help the animal regain health. These sensors are highly valuable in this industry because it is extremely important to maintain healthy cows, as they are your method of production and therefore your money makers.

Big Data is only as valuable as you understand and use it. I do not think we will see farmers moving away from their work to analyze data, but if they are going to implement data into their work it is very important to designate someone who will analyze the data and put it to use in the field. As technology continues to become smarter and more user friendly I think we will be seeing a lot more of Big Data in the farming industry.

To learn more about how Big Data is used to improve food production check out this interesting article!