Artificial intelligence will improve animal welfare and goat milk quality

DMC, Cicap and Boalvet AI, led by Dcoop, have taken the first steps of a task force to improve goat milk called “Development of an artificial intelligence tool that monitors the use of therapeutic alternatives of natural origin to optimize Andalusian goat milk.” dairy production (File: GOPG-MA-23-0002), Health4Goat.

The main goal of GO Health4Goat is to develop a computer tool (Reinforcement Learning algorithms) to objectively recommend the use of herbal medicine to improve animal well-being, productivity and milk quality, which in turn can reduce the use of antimicrobials on dairy goat farms in Andalucca.

The following are considered specific goals:

1) Collect and analyze data from official milk controls carried out on dairy goat farms to assess their evolution in terms of production value, milk quality and animal welfare.

2) Explore new combinations of plant or phytogenic extracts that improve animal health, improve gut health (microbiome) and reduce environmental impacts on dairy goat farms.

3) Investigate the presence of antimicrobial resistance and bacterial populations in the dairy sector and their possible association with the use of alternative therapeutics. Collect information on the effectiveness of protein feeding depending on the diet.

4) Develop artificial intelligence algorithms based on reinforcement learning through automatic collection of data on milk quality and environmental sensors, which make it possible to provide specific suggestions for the inclusion of medicinal plant extracts in the diet.

The Andalusian operating group is formed by a consortium of Andalusian companies and research centers led by the first-class agricultural cooperative Dcoop, the largest producer of olive oil in the world and one of the largest players in the national dairy goat sector.

Also participating are the technology company Boalvet AI, which creates and provides computer services for the agri-food sector, the technology center Cicap in Cordoba and the research center DMC SL, whose priority research and development is the study of new active ingredients obtained from natural products of plant or microbial origin with bacterial properties, and that with the help of this task force they intend to optimize their ingredients for animal nutrition, in particular for goat milk. DMC Research will act as the technical coordinator for the project.