Symposium review: The most important factors affectingadoption of precision dairy monitoring technologies

摘要

Precision dairy monitoring involves the use of technologiesto measure physiological, behavioral, andproduction indicators on individual animals to detectevents of interest. Estrus, disease, and calving detectionare common applications, although estrus detection isthe most tested and used. Many precision dairy monitoringtechnologies (PDMT) are commercially availableand are being used in research and on farms. As a result,a common question from researchers and producersalike is, “what PDMT should I buy?” The answerto this question is inherently complicated because itdepends on many factors, some of which researchershave yet to explore. The objective of this paper is toexamine the less quantitively researchable aspects ofPDMT adoption and use on-farm. This will be donethrough 3 lists of 5, determined from published theoryand my own experience. First, the 5 main factors thatinfluence adoption of an innovation: (1) relative advantage,(2) compatibility, (3) complexity, (4) trialability,and (5) observability. Each of these factors is at playto a different extent in the 5 adopter categories: (1)innovators, (2) early adopters, (3) early majority, (4)late majority, and (5) laggards. From my experienceand research, the top PDMT are those that improve(1) farm efficiency; (2) farm economics; (3) decisionmaking;(4) animal welfare; and (5) producer happiness.Implementing PDMT on a farm is an enormousand potentially expensive decision. As this part of theindustry continues to progress, the potential for differentPDMT is endless. Sound research and producerfeedback are imperative to ensuring that PDMT continueto improve and become more widely adopted.