DairyCare: Technology for Improved Dairy Animal Husbandry
DairyCare COST ActionDairyCare operated from 2014 to 2019 as an EU COST Action, bringing together biologists, engineers and computer scientists to accelerate the development and implementation of sensor technologies to assist husbandry and improve the wellbeing of dairy animals.
Five international Conferences and numerous Workshops and Researcher Exchanges were funded. All Conference Oral Proceedings are now available Open Access on this JDR Community site (below). The final report DairyCare Blueprint for Action and other short review articles prepared by Action members are published as a Special Issue of the Journal of Dairy Research: |
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DairyCare Aims and Objectives
Aim
The main objective of the DairyCare COST Action was to improve the wellbeing of dairy animals through two mechanisms. Firstly, accelerated development and application of a range of relevant innovative technologies that assist and promote good husbandry, with focus on welfare-related biomarkers, activity-based welfare assessment and their combination and integration into “smart” husbandry support systems. Secondly, wider dissemination of established best-practice technologies, including from the dairy cow sector into niche sectors working with non-bovine and novel dairy animals.
Secondary objectives
The Action was designed to:
The main objective of the DairyCare COST Action was to improve the wellbeing of dairy animals through two mechanisms. Firstly, accelerated development and application of a range of relevant innovative technologies that assist and promote good husbandry, with focus on welfare-related biomarkers, activity-based welfare assessment and their combination and integration into “smart” husbandry support systems. Secondly, wider dissemination of established best-practice technologies, including from the dairy cow sector into niche sectors working with non-bovine and novel dairy animals.
Secondary objectives
The Action was designed to:
- Integrate experience and expertise from diverse dairy production systems in different parts of Europe and elsewhere to build awareness and knowledge of the welfare needs of dairy animals, and of the capabilities and limitations of current and developing welfare technologies
- Combine expert knowledge and expertise from the many relevant disciplines, including animal scientists, ethologists, veterinarians, technologists, computer scientists, veterinarians, systems scientists and social/socioeconomic scientists
- Identify gaps in current knowledge and technology, and encourage new and innovative scientific investigation in these areas
- Through this integration, innovation and combination, assist the development, validation and application of novel technologies for monitoring, managing and improving the health and welfare status of dairy animals
- Generate one or more cross-disciplinary, cross-regional, cross-species blueprints for action to improve dairy animal management based on these new technologies
- Disseminate this new knowledge and encourage the incorporation into different management practices of all relevant new scientific knowledge and technology as it arises during the next few years
- Through these various means, increase the competitiveness of the European dairy industries
