UBC Dairy Education
and Research Centre

We plan to build on that reputation to advance precision dairy research as well as to continue our endeavour into better understanding the social licence necessary for the future of the dairy industry. The Dairy Centre is retrofitting its barns and installing new technology infrastructure to advance precision dairy management. New sensor-based automated tools and robotic equipment will generate multiple data streams that can be used in training, research and analysis for more targeted solutions to manage individual cow’s health, productivity and sustainability.

Given the existing infrastructure and utility of sensor technologies (wearables, stationary sensors, cameras), the Dairy Centre presents unique opportunities to assess the benefits and impacts of device integration, data transfer, and advanced computing power for big data analytics. We intend to create a technological environment that will maximize the use of sensor data to improve management decisions and automate characteristics closely linked with dairy cow health and welfare. The results of this research will form the scientific basis for increasingly-evolved best practices in using automation and technology to manage individual cows and the herd as a whole. The new technological infrastructure will be attractive to graduate students seeking to do research in these areas. Thus, in addition to supporting today’s dairy farmers, we will be helping to train a new generation of agriculture professionals trained in addressing issues important to the dairy industry.

Please join us in supporting this new technology installation to advance precision dairy management and create new opportunities for researchers and students to engage in research on sustainability, productivity, dairy cow health and welfare; work that will be key in securing the future of the dairy industry.