Precision Dairy Farming Techniques and Systems to Support a Sustainable Dairy Industry

Dear Colleagues,

The global demand for animal products increases every year, while consolidation of the sector puts downward pressure on the number of active farmers. Farms are growing in herd size, while the farmers themselves have less time and attention for individual animals. From an economic perspective this intensification is inevitable, but it requires new approaches to maintain and improve sustainability in livestock production, with minimal environmental impact and guaranteed welfare for both the animal and the farmer. It is already well-known that good management practices play a key role in both the productivity and welfare of animals. However, new and improved insights and technology can further support farmers. To this end, a better understanding of the production process is required, in combination with the development of reliable technology to monitor the health, production, behavior, welfare, and environmental impact of individual animals. This combination of knowledge is core to the concept of Precision Dairy Farming (PDF).

This Special Issue aims to introduce new and emerging technologies and methods related to Precision Dairy Farming. This issue is calls for studies dealing with:

• the identification and study of novel indicators for the productivity, health, welfare, and environmental impact of cows which can potentially be monitored on-farm;
• the development and implementation of sensor systems and ICT solutions that improve health, welfare, and productivity and reduce the environmental impact of dairy farms;
• the design and implementation of robotic milking systems and other automation (automatic feeding, robotic barn cleaning) and their impacts on the productivity/sustainability of the dairy farm; and
• the development and evaluation of early warning and decision support systems for cow health and welfare.

We invite you to contribute to this issue by submitting original research papers, comprehensive reviews, or specific case studies that focus on methods, models, techniques, and analyses applied to precision dairy farming. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Prof. Dr. Tomas Norton
Prof. Dr. Ben Aernouts
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• precision dairy farming
• dairy
• cows
• technology
• ICT
• automation
• control
• sensors
• data