HoliCow

🤔 Did you know? Did you know that our newsletters are available in 3 languages? 👀 When completing the form on our website, you can choose between English, French, and German! 📰 Some of you already received the March edition this week. Don't miss it and subscribe now via the link below 📩 ➡ https://lnkd.in/exdxW9QW

📲 You must have read already that the HoliCow project is based on the use of Big Data to improve the resilience of small and medium-sized dairy farms. But how exactly is that going to work? 🐮 📰 Discover our latest article and learn more about how we will use the data collected. You will also have an insight into the first draft of our tool for farmers 👀

📢 Do you know the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF)? Let’s introduce our partner from Ireland! 🇮🇪 "ICBF is an independent, farmer-led organisation providing services to Irish farmers and industry. Our shareholders consist of farmers 👨🌾👩🌾 as well as Milk Recording, AI, and #Herdbook organisations. ICBF hosts the national #AgTech database, which stores data from a wide variety of stakeholders. This data allows us to analyse trends in genetic gain, fertility, herd health and animal carbon emissions 🐄. A scientific application of these metrics allows us to develop animal profitability indexes in collaboration with our partner organisation, Teagasc, and have a key part to play in helping the Irish agriculture sector to meet its #sustainability goals 🌱 We also provide tools 📲, including our Herdplus subscription service, which equips farmers with accessible information allowing them to make more informed #management decisions, to subsequently increase farm profitability. This ensures that each generation of animals bred is more environmentally and economically sustainable than the last ♻. Industry partnerships in the delivery of #breeding services has driven sectoral change in terms of the genetic merit, reputation and profitability of the national herd. ICBF has significant experience with EU-funded projects and leverages national and regional funding as well. Our key role in the HoliCow project will be to build the data pipelines required to meet project #objectives 🎯. We will do this by liaising with researchers, farmers and advisors while also delivering the outputs of the project to the Irish dairy sector. Furthermore, we will act as a Work Package leader, closely cooperating with all partners throughout the project 🤝" Want to learn more about our partners? Have a look on our website ➡ https://lnkd.in/emtwqH6a

The April edition will be sent soon, don't miss it! 🗓 Subscribe now 📩 ➡ https://lnkd.in/exdxW9QW

🐮 HoliCow is all about team work and transnational cooperation 🤝 Laura Monica Dale,DDr., one of our scientific collaborators from Germany, travelled to Belgium to work on the data with the team from Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech yesterday and at the Association Wallonne des Éleveurs today! 🖥 Two days of hard work, two days of reflection, of problem solving, but also of team building 💪 #teamwork #cooperation #data

📢 Here is what you have to know about Institut de l'Elevage (idele), our partner from France! 🇫🇷 “Institut de l'Elevage (idele) is the French Livestock Institute, the reference technical institute for #herbivore farming and breeding 🐄🐑🐐🐎 in France. IDELE is a non-profit and non-governmental organization. Our Research & Development activities provide technical solutions to #livestock farmers 👨🌾👩🌾 of cattle, sheep, goats and horses, but also to the economic actors of the production chains. For several years, IDELE has been carrying out applied research projects 🔬 in collaboration with its partners in agricultural development and research, and with #interprofessional organizations. Our activities 🎯 include climate change mitigation and adaptation, technology transfer, animal health and welfare, genetics, animal husbandry, quality of products, farm human resources, information systems, farm and sector economics, etc.   Within the framework of the HoliCow project, IDELE will provide knowledge to make the best use of milk #biomarkers related to cows’ health and welfare, cows' adaptation to climate change, and GHG emissions. Our experienced team will contribute to the creation of #training supports for the users of the new tool 📲. We will also work with two experimental farms to test the tools created.” Want to discover our other partners? Have a look on our website ➡ https://lnkd.in/emtwqH6a

On #EarthDay, we celebrate our beautiful planet Earth, but it is also an opportunity to remember how important it is to preserve it 🌍 Members of the HoliCow project are proud to be part of the global efforts for preserving the environment by supporting small and medium dairy farms 🐮 Farmers are indeed key actors in landscape preservation and play a key role towards more sustainable and resilient communities 👩🌾👨🌾 #dairyfarms #sustainability #resilience

📢 Today, let’s introduce our partner Landeskontrollverband Schleswig-Holstein e.V., from Germany. 🇩🇪 “The LKV SH has years of experience in the collection, computation and evaluation of large-scale livestock data 🐄 from the Schleswig-Holstein state cattle population. Considering that Schleswig-Holstein represents a #pilot state in the German Digitalisation Strategy, LKV SH represents a data centre and a MRO at the same time. This specific profile increases #IT capacities and opens up many opportunities to integrate the results of Big Data management into the daily working procedures of MROs. LKV SH operates a proprietary Data Center, a Milk Laboratory 🔬 and has specifically trained field service staff, who are in close contact with the farmers 👩🌾👨🌾 and the animals 🐮. The LKV SH has a large experience in collaborating with all kinds of partners from the #industry to the #academic worlds. We are located outside of the NWE area. As partner, our specific role is therefore as follows: we will intensively cooperate in all WPs. We will provide raw and processed data from Schleswig-Holstein #cattle population (including milk recording for approximately 300,000 cows in 2,200 farms). More specifically, LKV SH will provide information about the milk (amount, composition, IR Specra, etc.) 🥛 and meta-data 🗃 from the participating farms (herd-size, location, production capacities, etc.). Furthermore, our organisation is able to provide #computational resources from a proprietary Data Centre (Storage, RAM & CPU). We will also be involved in the testing of the tools thanks to pilot farms in our region.” Want to discover our other partners? Have a look on our website ➡ https://lnkd.in/emtwqH6a

📸 Frédéric Dehareng, from CRA-W Centre wallon de Recherches agronomiques, talking about the HoliCow project at the International Dairy Federation BENC event today in Londerzeel, Belgium! This event was about the "Connection and interaction between research and practice" and Frédéric explained how mid-infrared spectroscopy of milk could contribute to improve the sustainability of the dairy sector ♻🐮 #sustainability #dairy #research

📢 Let’s talk about one of our German partners, Landeskontrollverband Nordrhein-Westfalen e. V. (LKV-NRW)! 🇩🇪 “The LKV-NRW is a service company mainly active in the #dairy industry 🐄. We are responsible for the implementation of milk recording (including milk collection for more than 330,000 cows in 3,150 farms), and the #quality testing of raw milk. The milk samples are analysed in our own laboratory 🔬, a 100% subsidiary of LKV-NRW, and the results are integrated into the management system. In addition, LKV-NRW provides IT tools 📲 for farmers and consultants for management and decision-making. LKV-NRW is also the official association for the #identification and #registration of animals 🏷 and we are responsible for the auditing of milk suppliers for the quality management program QM-Milch. LKV-NRW implements the HoliCow project goals and ensures the coordination of the project in North Rhine-Westphalia. Thanks to our expertise, we will be organizing #training courses and #mentoring the farmers 👨🌾👩🌾 who provide data and who are involved in the pilot phase. In addition, our tasks will include the construction of monitoring models, the integration of routines, and the development and implementation of IT tools.” Want to discover our other partners? Have a look on our website ➡ https://lnkd.in/emtwqH6a