Emerging technologies in dairy medicine

Abstract

Technology is often adopted in dairy farming for one – or many – of the following reasons: to increase farm efficiency, improve farm profitability, assist in decision-making, improve ani­mal welfare and, in some cases, increase producer happiness. As the use of technologies increases in dairy farming, dairy practitioners, who are regarded as the most reliable source of information by producers, must learn about the innovations available in the market in order to assist dairy producers when adopting these emerging technologies. More importantly, dairy producers and practitioners should leverage the large amount of data generated by these innovations to develop management actions to improve animal health, performance and welfare. This review focuses on presenting some of the emerging tech­nologies used for the management and monitoring of lactating dairy cows, and how these technologies can be used by dairy practitioners to add value to the services they offer while in­creasing farm efficiency and animal welfare.