Descripción del proyecto
High performance dairy cows have a reduced lifespan (from 5.4 years on average to 20) and high mortality, due to the number of diseases associated to pregnancy/lactation. This represents a major environmental and economic issue for dairy farmers: only in Germany, around €2.1 billion are lost each year due to forced cattle rejections.
Holistic monitoring systems are greatly needed to improve cow’s welbeing and minimize cattle forced rejection rates (currently 20-40% of the livestock). However, current monitoring solutions focus only on one or two aspects of cow’s wellbeing (oestrus, calving, health status or feeding), and rely on just a few parameters which may not be entirely reliable (e.g. rumen pH measurements).
rumicon is the first holistic and predictive monitoring system for dairy cows. Integrated into the rumen stomach of heifers, our bolus sensor measures a great variety of parameters (both direct and indirect), including rumen’s motility - the most accurate health indicator in ruminants. In this way, our system is the first one to monitor ALL aspects of cow’s wellbeing with a single device. The gathered data is sent to a cloud base computing system, which processes it with Machine Learning algorithms and creates charts and tables. Thus, all information is easily accessible, and alarms/notifications are directly sent to farm managers and veterinarians when needed, for them to take action before the problem affects milk production. In this sense, by using our system, farmers will be able to extend their herd’s life expectancy by 20-30% (up to 7 years), reducing cattle forced departures in 25%.
Moreover, for our company, dropnostix gmbh, rumicon will be the core pillar of our business, with which we aim to reach about 1,600 large dairy farms and revenues of €17.13 million in the first 5 years of commercialization. For this purpose, we will rely on a solid value chain within the European dairy industry, including key institutions and cattle associations.