Project

Research Network on Cattle in Schleswig-Holstein

Lead Institute OL Institute of Organic Farming

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Innovation hub on cattle for efficient research, practical development and sustainable knowledge transfer of 'digital farming' methods through the use of Broadband infrastructure to improve lifestock welfare, environmental and climate protection in Schleswig-Holstein

In the joint project "Research Network on Cattle in Schleswig-Holstein" questions of digitalisation in dairy cattle husbandry, in pasture management, in monitoring udder health and in the use of climate assessment tools are highlighted. The five research and advisory organisations with dairy cattle testing stations (two organic, three conventional) based in Schleswig-Holstein are pooling their know-how and capacities here.
The project is funded by the Geman Federal Minsitry of Nutrition and Agriculture in the programme to promote experimentation with digitalisation in agriculture in future farms and future regions and in upstream and downstream value chains.

Background and Objective

The research and advisory organisations with their associated organic and conventional experimental dairy farms in Schleswig-Holstein want to demonstrate possibilities for digitalisation in milk production. This is intended to facilitate the transfer of innovative methodologies into practice. A standardised research database will be set up for the experimental farms, digital tools in the field of pasture management will be developed, data flows for standardised climate balancing will be established, and possibilities for digital monitoring of udder health will be established for the further use in advisory services and research.

Approach

Project partners in the RindforNet_SH project are

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Projektkoordination) - Versuchsbetriebe Karkendamm und Lindhof
Thünen-Institut für Ökologischen Landbau - Versuchsbetrieb Trenthorst
Max-Rubner-Institut, Institut für Sicherheit und Qualität bei Milch und Fisch - Versuchsbetrieb Schädtbek
Landwirtschaftskammer Schleswig-Holstein - Lehr- und Versuchszentrum Futterkamp

The project partners cooperate in the following five work packages (WP):

WP1 Knowledge transfer, networking, public relations: The aim is to achieve a high level of networking for close cooperation between the consortium and other interested practical enterprises as well as science and industry and partners from the service sector. In addition, cooperation with other future farms and regions that are working on digitalisation and with external experts is to be established and expert meetings and a regional conference are to be organised, as well as coaching for interested farmers.

WP2 Establishment of a standardised research database: Animal-related basic data from the five experimental farms will be compiled in an internet-based, database-supported system and thus made available in a standardised way for scientific and applied questions in the long term. In addition, individual animal-related, project-specific data (WP 3-5) from the five experimental farms will be recorded.

WP3 Digital pasture management: Selected digital sensor technologies are used to record the yield and feed value of the pasture swards and to monitor the behaviour of individual animals and the herd in order to optimise pasture management.

WP4 Digital climate balancing for dairy farmers: For the standardised calculation of complete climate balances in dairy farming, digital data sources will be opened up and climate balances will initially be created using two advisory tools that are already used in practice (TEKLa and Agrar-Klimacheck). The basis for the calculations and further and new developments in the project is the German "Calculation standard for individual farm climate balances (BEK)" (KTBL). The effects of management changes and recommendations for more climate protection in dairy farming are to be derived through targeted variation of the input data.

WP5 Digital monitoring of udder health: The data available on the udder health of individual animals on the five experimental farms will be interconnected and made available digitally in such a way that they can be used in the best possible way for informed treatment decisions in terms of minimisation in the use of antibiotics. In addition, connected sensors will be used to monitor animal health closely. The EUTERGESUND programme from the EIP project "Udder Health - Development of a Practical Tool for Sustainable Udder Health Management" will be further developed with regard to data flow.

Other partners from research, science and industry are associated with the project: