What are the major innovations of the past five years?
In reality, the innovations are already “old”: milking robots and heat detectors are already 20 years old. But they have improved over time, and data is made more readily available thanks to compatibility with farm management software. There has been real progress in simplifying interfaces.
“Milking robots and heat detectors are already 20 years old”
You don’t talk about AI?
AI in the broad sense has existed in livestock farming for a long time: turning a heat signal into a detection is something we’ve also known how to do for 20 years. As for generative AI such as ChatGPT, Mistral and others, few finalized, specialized applications are available beyond consumer chatbots.
Which innovations are most widely used?
Idele conducted a study in 2023. It shows that all farmers are equipped with digital tools, with the dairy cattle sector being the most equipped. In recent years, more favorable economic conditions have supported the adoption of digital tools on farms.
The milking robot is a prime example, with an equipment rate of 20 to 30% on French farms. More than 75% of new farm installations are milking robots.
There is also the heat-detection or calving collar: 50% of farms are equipped with one. It is the success story of embedded sensors.
The most widely adopted innovations are those that make farmers’ lives easier: in sheep farming, surveillance cameras; in dairy cattle farming, the milking robot, since milking is the most time-consuming task; and in beef cattle farming, tools for monitoring grazing and calving.
What impact do these innovations have on farms, and are they really profitable?
When assessing profitability, digital tools are rarely profitable if the farmer’s working time is not taken into account. That is why Idele models potential time savings. When there is an employee on the farm, we assess the savings in labor costs; otherwise, we can also assess the value of the time freed up to do something else.
How long does it take to recoup their cost?
It depends on the devices. The calving detector becomes profitable fairly quickly (in less than two years), since it can save a calf, which is already enough to make it pay for itself. For reproduction monitoring, the return on investment can be achieved in less than three years. For the milking robot, less than 13 years. These payback periods vary significantly depending on the farming systems and performance levels before adoption.
Do innovations have a real impact on the productivity and performance of livestock farms?
The main impact is on working time, organisation and quality of life. The tools can also sometimes help make up for unmet staffing needs. Feeding robots are expensive to purchase, but compared with a salary, they can sometimes be cost-effective. They also make the work less arduous and therefore more attractive to potential recruits.
As for productivity, once again, it can cut both ways: a milking robot leads to more milkings and therefore a greater volume of feed to provide, but also to new costs, since more concentrate is needed, in addition to the depreciation of the milking robot itself. These innovations contribute to the evolution of a system. A milking robot often entails changes to feeding, as well as to the building.
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What impact does this have on time, working comfort, or work organization?
One of the drivers behind the adoption of milking robots is health, through the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). In this respect, it helps maintain milk production in certain regions.
In suckler farming, the GPS system saves a great deal of time and improves working comfort; it makes it easier to find the animals. The surveillance drone is making its debut and, when used every other day during testing phases, it saves between 30 and 50 % of surveillance time, depending on the grazing systems. That said, it is difficult to assess the impacts precisely because every farm is unique.
Can we say that they have changed the farming profession?
It’s clear that these tools are changing how farmers approach the herd. There is less time spent on call and more time at the computer. Tasks considered tedious, such as scraping, can nevertheless provide an opportunity to observe certain things. In the past, we relied a lot on how things felt and on visual observation. Today, you need to know how to use the dashboards. One possible downside is that these tools are an intermediary between the farmer and the herd. The upside is that they allow farmers to focus on the animals that need them most.
The key issue for the future is data. Today, there is so much of it that we don’t know how to analyze it, even though significant progress has been made in recent years. We will need to move from sets of dashboards to actionable information for farmers. We can also regret the sometimes gimmicky features of certain devices. Many features go unused because there is so much information. The goal will be to train farmers so they can get the most out of what they have paid for.
How can these sets of dashboards be turned into actionable information?
It could be to have an integrated chatbot that I can ask, “Which cow should be checked today?” rather than having 18 sheets per alert. The aim is to improve the farmer’s experience and provide interfaces that are more intuitive and better suited to livestock farmers.
What advice can you give to livestock farmers who want to equip themselves?
I advise farmers to test equipment before buying it whenever possible. Subscription systems sometimes make it possible to cancel if the device is not suitable. It is also important to visit fellow farmers. Given the growing adoption rates, there is bound to be a tool not too far away. Idele brings together farmers’ testimonials to provide an independent, critical view of the tools, as they often require a substantial investment. The costs of these tools must also be taken into account. In unfavourable economic conditions, those costs remain the same. Yet their profitability has not always been proven.
“The challenge going forward is data. There is so much of it today that we don’t know how to analyse it well enough.”
What do you think will be the major innovations in the coming years? And what impact might they have?
Two major developments are expected. First, generative AI, which will improve the way we interact with our tools, and image analysis, which will make it unnecessary to equip each animal individually. We have research and development projects that are not yet mature. We can make them work, but they require significant adjustments and are not yet adaptable to all farms. This will happen, but we still have a few years of testing ahead of us.
A few figures
92% of farms are equipped with digital tools in 2023, including milk meters and automatic feed dispensers.
84% of cattle farms were equipped with calving-monitoring or heat-detection cameras in 2023.
77% is the share of robotic milking systems among new milking installations in 2024.
