Why an intelligent dairy farm?

Today, one of the most important industries in the country is livestock farming, the most important of which is the breeding of dairy and beef cattle, fattened sheep and goats. Due to the mass production of this industry, the need for automation is strongly felt in order to better produce and well maintain milk quality. Accordingly, it is necessary to use intelligent systems in order to lower extra costs and improve livestock health.

How to automate a dairy farm?

Since feeding and milking of the livestock is done with machine and livestock places and barnyards are in the form of open halls, its automation is as follows:

1. Heating & Cooling Control

In industrial dairy farms, the majority of the tasks are done either by machine or by labor, the main task of automation in dairy farms is to control cooling and heating. Although the comfort temperature range for cows is between 24-25 ° C; It can withstand up to -15 degrees, therefore, in the warm seasons of the year, we can keep the livestock away from heat stress by automating foggers or ceiling fans and keep them away from cold stress by underfloor heating systems and special heaters in the cold seasons because for each degree of fall in temperature, food digestibility decreases by 1%; Therefore, it is very important to provide a comfort temperature for livestock.

2. Air Circulation Fan

In rest halls where livestock are kept in large numbers, air circulation fans are needed in order to move air throughout the hall and provide adequate ventilation for livestock.

Automation for sheep and goats farming

Sheep and goat farming can be to some extent done in closed sheds. Subsequently, we have a closed ecosystem whose parameters can be controlled by automation and intelligent systems; However, along with the system, manpower is also needed.

1. Ventilation

Ventilation in closed sheds is one of the most important parts that supplies fresh air and is highly effective in elimination of ammonia and carbon dioxide. To do this, the number of fans and inlet valves in proportion to fans should be determined and then different types of ventilation systems should be used according to them.

2. Temperature

Sheep are more sensitive to high ambient temperatures, draught and humidity; but goats are more sensitive to cold because of the fluff on their body surface therefore need a temperature between 12-21 degrees and can withstand up to -17˚; as a result, to prevent heat stress, ventilation systems, foggers and etc. should be used in these halls.

3. Humidity

One of the factors that can make breathing easier for livestock is the amount of humidity in the hall. Humidity prevents tissue damage, but the proper amount should be from 25% to 70%. The most significant factors that affect humidity amount are: the time fans are on/off, working of the foggers and the amount of room temperature.

4. Controlling Ammonia & Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Faecal ammonia and the carbon dioxide released during respiration are very dangerous if they exceed. As a result, it is very important to ventilate these gases and replace them with fresh, oxygen-enriched air. The amount of ammonia should not exceed 20 ppm, otherwise it will cause a variety of diseases and falls in livestock production.

5.Light

light is one of the requisites of animal comfort which performs a leading role in reducing cardiovascular problems, and production efficiency; of course it is better to use sunlight during the day and then use 100-watt bulbs per 46 square meters at sunset. In addition, the light intensity in the pen should be enough during the day, otherwise artificial light must be used all day which can be controlled by automatic programming.

6.Automated Fault Detection System

Most of the time, due to the large amount of work, the dairy farmer would be unaware of some of the systems’ breakdown. Intelligent control system has the advantage of discovering faults automatically in which case it notifies the dairy farmer of the failures of the systems by sounding the alarm and informing via mobile phone.

7. Online Monitoring

Observing especially the pen and barnyards from a distance is a major factor in determining the status of livestock, the amount of food taken by them and the workers’ performance. Having the dairy farming parameters control tables such as feed amount, the amount of water consumed and the milk produced as well as the frequency of milking, the better you can manage your dairy farm online on your PC.