ARGOS

A Program for Veterinary and Zootechnical Herd Health Management

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1970's, one has striven for an increase in the herd milk production on the dairy herds in Western Europe. This was accomplished by investing and by specialising, making use of technological progress and economics of scale. Since the introduction of quota's in 1983, the number of dairy herds in Belgium is decreasing at a rate of 6% a year, and interest in beef cows (Figure 1) and other specialisations of intensive stock-farming is increasing. Along with increasing herd size (Figure 2) and increasing production costs, there is rising interest in the improvement of internal farm efficiency with emphasis on cost-management. Envirommental interests, too, exert an even larger influence on management methodes. It is in this framework that herd management systems must be situated.