Innovations hoped for in dairy farming

Another ongoing issue in dairy farming is greater efficiency in the supply of coarse feed. This is confirmed by the survey, in which all industry stakeholders hope for innovations in this area.

When it comes to reducing the use of antibiotics, there is probably still potential in the area of dry cows. Instead of a preventive general administration of antibiotics, it is assumed that in future the cell content of each udder quarter will be checked and thus antibiotics will only have to be administered in a targeted manner in those udder quarters where this is necessary.

In terms of data management, the main hope is for improvements and innovations in terms of connectivity. There are already very good sensor technologies in dairy farming, but there is a lack of communication between the still diverse isolated solutions.

Farmers (1.92) consider innovations in breeding progress to be more important than science, advice (2.09) and industry (2.13). This presumably does not relate to milk yield, where breeding progress is very advanced. There is probably more potential here in terms of longevity and hoof health. Another current topic is the dehorning of calves. Due to new legal regulations, this is in Germany now only permitted with sedation, which has significantly increased both the effort and costs involved. Genetically hornless dairy cows are possible, but this trait is not yet established in the field, which is why farmers may value the potential of breeding more highly than other stakeholders.

In addition, the scientific community still sees opportunities for improvements in work organization and efficiency.