Special Feature

Extending IT to the Dairy Farm
Shinsuke Hannoe†, Satoru Yamaguchi, Yuichiro Takei,
Mariko Nakamura, and Yasuyuki Sugiyama
Abstract
Information technology (IT) can bring valuable benefits to the dairy farm. We present an overview ofsystems for managing data about individual animals and the status of a barn. We also describe a traceability system to allay the growing concerns of consumers over food safety and quality.

1. Initiatives for extending IT to the dairy industry

2. Livestock farm network

It is widely expected that the extension of information technology (IT) to the farming sector will not
only enhance the quality of life of producers, but also
put the minds of consumers at ease by enabling themto obtain information about the food they eat from theactual farms where it is produced. With these objectives in mind, we are seeking to extend IT to farmingby exploiting sensing and networking technologies.
In collaboration with the Hokkaido Branch of NTT
East, field trials are now being conducted at an actual
dairy farm to evaluate an individual animal data systemthat keeps digital records about dairy cows and a cattle
barn status management system for collecting datafrom the structure where the cattle are actually kept.

The various systems available and deployed on
livestock farms up to now were developed for single
farm units, so they involve considerable initial investment and burden on the family to run the system.
These systems are also generally implemented as
standalone systems, which makes it extremely difficult to share data with other farmers and interestedparties. This led us to develop an individual animal
data system supporting centralized control through adata management center enabling the management ofdata on each farm and dairy cow, and a farm network
linking all the buildings and facilities on the farmincluding the cattle barn, the workroom, the calving
shed, and the farmer’s own residence. Figure 1 shows
an overview of the trial network that was deployed onan actual working dairy farm. Any and all information in the data management center can be accessedover the Internet and viewed on a PC or i-mode ter-† NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories
Musashino-shi, 180-8585 Japan
E-mail: hannoe.shinsuke@lab.ntt.co.jp

Table 1. Functions of the individual animal data system.

66

Description

i-modesupport

Digital ledger

Stores cow’s name, various registration numbers, photographs. Information was previously kept in paper ledgers by various organizations.

PartialMilk testing data

Displays milk testing results (milk components, volume, etc.) from theDairy Herd Improvement Association.

No

Schedule

Records and displays communication with inseminator, antibiotic dosages, and other relevant info. noticed while working with the animal.

Yes

Temperature,humidity data

Displays readings from temperature and humidity sensors in the barn.

Yes

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Data management center
Individual animal database
Cattle barn information
database

ISDN line
ISDN line
FLET’S, ISDN
Residence
Dial-up router

FAX
Businessphone

FileserverPC

i-modeBackup LAN line

150–200 mWorkroom
Businessphone

Hub

Dial-uprouterSensorSensorBulk cooler(storage tank) PCServer

SensorSensorCattle barn
Environmental data hubSensor
10–20 m Calving
shedSensor
CameraserverSensorHub
Underground facilities

Fig. 1. Overview of the livestock farm network.

Main menu

Milk testing dataDigital ledger

Schedule

Barn temperature, humidity

Fig. 2. Screen shots of the individual animal data system.

minal from anywhere on the farm, thus making thedata available at actual work sites where it is mostneeded.
3. Individual animal data system
Most of the data kept on dairy farms is maintainedin regular hardcopy paper ledgers and logs. As amajor improvement over this old approach to recordkeeping, we have developed and are now evaluating
an individual animal data system that permits farmers
to record and keep this kind of data in digital format
Vol. 1 No. 2 May 2003

where it can be viewed along with sensor readings
from sensors installed in the cattle barn. Table 1 summarizes the functions supported by the individual
animal data system, and Fig. 2 shows several screen
shots of the system. In addition to the four main functions described here, we plan to add a bulk cooler(raw milk storage tank) temperature display function(see sec. 4.2).
3.1 Digital ledger
The digital ledger is used to record and manage
detailed information about each dairy cow: name,67

Special Featurenickname, various registration numbers, photos ofdistinguishing marks, and so on. This information
used to be kept separately in separate ledgers, but
having the information available in one place makes
it much easier to correlate and compare different categories of data.
3.2 Milk testing data
Milk testing data refers to test results obtained fromthe Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA)
regarding milk components and amounts of milk produced. The test results are divided into two categories: “dairy herd milk testing data” and “dairy cow
milk testing data.”
3.3 Schedule
The schedule provides a way to keep track of information on each dairy cow including contacts with theinseminator, antibiotics dosage and schedule, andother information that may be noted while working
with the animal. Data is entered using a PC or i-mode
terminal, and can later be displayed in the individual
animal data system by specifying the date of entry.
Any problems or irregularities with livestock areusually discovered during work, so the farmer
observing the abnormality usually must remember torecord the information in the daily work log andledger after returning to the house, which may bemuch later. Human memory being fallible, it is easy
for the farmer to forget to enter this information lateror to make mistakes. With the schedule function, theworker can enter a brief memo in the individual animal data system right there on the spot using an imode terminal. Going further, we are now evaluating
a “bulletin-board” type capability that will allow
farmers and veterinarians to share the schedule-related information.
3.4 Cattle barn temperature and humidity
The cattle barn management system permits users
to view the readings taken by temperature and humidity sensors installed in the cattle barn. In the future weplan to upgrade the system to support raw milk temperature control data too, which is important from thestandpoint of traceability.
4. Cattle barn status management system
Most dairy farms are family-run operations withjust a few people doing all the work, but the farm
facilities can be quite extensive and scattered over alarge area. This led us to implement a cattle barn sta68

tus management system that collects data from sensors deployed around the farm over a network. We arenow evaluating a pilot implementation of the systemthat saves considerable time and effort that would
normally be required in running around the farm
checking everything, and also keeps track of somekinds of data that previously were not monitored. Thedata collected by the system can be viewed on theindividual animal data system.
The experience gained through collaborative research
between Hokkaido University and NTT proved very
valuable in implementing the cattle barn status management system. Our environmental data hub [1] wasused to control the sensors and collect the data.
4.1 Calving shed camera
In monitoring and managing cows on a dairy farm,
it is especially important to keep close track of theanimals during late pregnancy and calving and when
the animals are sick. On many farms the general practice is to separate cows that are ill or in late pregnancy from the rest of the herd and put them in the calving shed for close monitoring and treatment. A Web
camera and a microphone are installed in the shed toenable effective monitoring, and the sound andimages can be seen and heard in the house and workroom on a PC monitor (Figs. 1 and 3).
Through these trials we discovered that sound playsa critical role in monitoring the calving shed. From aside image of a cow you cannot tell whether the cow
is sleeping or suffering in pain. With the addition ofsound, however, it becomes very obvious.
4.2 Temperature-humidity sensors
Dairy cows produce less milk if the ambient temperature climbs above about 25˚C, so it is important
to control the temperature in the barn, particularly
during the summer months. For this system weinstalled six sensors in the barn that measure bothtemperature and humidity. The data is sent from theserver in the workroom to individual animal data system, so it can be viewed via the Web (Fig. 2). Notethat this system can also be applied for other general
purposes, so it can also be used to collect data fromthe sensors used by the raw milk monitoring system.
4.3 Raw milk temperature monitoring system
For quality control purposes, it is extremely important to regulate the temperature of the raw milk—thatis, milk that has just come from the cow. Raw milk is
temporarily kept in a special refrigerated storage tankcalled a bulk cooler, which is picked up by a tanker
NTT Technical Review

Special Feature

Calvingshed

Dry up shed

Calving shed
Underground facilities
Cattle barn
Milking Workroom
shedServer and PC on rack
(protected from cold, dust)

Underground facilities
LAN line into residence

Calving shed camera(protected from cold, dust)

Temperature,humidity
sensorWorkroom

To residence, about 180 m
Environmental data hub

Scene in the barn

Fig. 3. Overview of farm.

See the actual producers

Responsibility is explicit

Demand for data about
products and place of origin

The milk you are drinking
comes from our cows.
Fresh and good, isn't it?

I am responsible
for this facility

Date produced:
day/month/year, andname of farm

Product flow
Data flow

Farm

Plant

StoreConsumer
I wonder where
this milk wasproduced?

Desired information
can be obtainedThis milk tastes
great!

Traceability system
Specify
distribution route
View quality
control records

Data
disclosuresystem
Obtain feedback
from consumers

Fig. 4. Food safety network.

and delivered to the dairy processing plant. To suppress the growth of bacteria while the milk is stored,
it is cooled to below 10˚C for a set period of time after
it has been collected from the cow. The problem withthe bulk tanks that are currently available is that theyVol. 1 No. 2 May 2003

do not have any capability to record and save temperature data.
In future, temperature data will be collected by theserver in the workroom and sent to the individual animal data system. The server in the workroom will69

Special Featuredetect whether there is any problem regarding the temperature, and if there is, the system will automatically
call a telephone number set by the user and dispatch aproblem notification message. When the producer
receives such a notification, he can check the temperature data on the individual animal data system.

Shinsuke Hannoe
Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, Ecocommunity Project, NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories.
He received his B.E and M.E. degrees in
Mechanical Engineering from Chiba University,Chiba, Japan in 1990 and 1992. He joined NTT
in 1992 and has studied Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. He is now studying design anddevelopment of information technologies indairy farming.

5. Proposed food safety network
There is now a very definite demand for traceability to restore confidence and put consumers’ minds atease regarding the safety and quality of the food theyeat. This would provide information not only about
where food products are produced—information thatis demanded in the wake of E. coli O157, BSE (madcow disease), fraudulent labeling cases, and otherrecent scares—but also about food distribution routes
and processing en route to local supermarkets. However, much of this data is highly technical, so somekind of public disclosure system would also berequired to convert the data into a format that consumers can easily understand. And just as a traceability system is needed to give consumers access to producers’ data, a system is needed to give producers
access to information from distributors and consumers. Currently, they have a hard time getting such
feedback. What is needed is an interactive system inwhich all interested parties—especially, producers,
distributors, and consumers—can share informationand maintain open dialogs.
To satisfy these various requirements, we propose
the food safety network illustrated in Fig. 4. The
traceability system has access to the individual animal and cattle barn status management systems, andit is integrated with the data public disclosure system
and interactive system.
6. Future development
Through ongoing trials of the individual animal
data system and cattle barn status management system, NTT is seeking to develop systems that are beneficial to dairy farmers through IT—the collection
and management of data at the actual site of production. We will continue to investigate how IT might beused to enhance the efficiency of farm operations
through field trials.
Reference[1]70

M. Mizunuma, T. Katoh, S. Hata, “Applying IT to Farm Fields—AWireless LAN,” NTT Technical Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 56-60,
2003.

Satoru Yamaguchi
Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, Ecocommunity Project, NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories.
He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Shizuoka University,
Shizuoka, Japan, in 1978 and 1980, respectively.
In 1980, he joined NTT, where he engaged indevelopmental research on advanced packaging
technology. He is now researching lifestyleenviromental information network. He is amember of the IEICE?, the IEEE Components,
Packaging, Manufacturing Technology Society,and the IEEE Communications Society.

Mariko Nakamura
Eco-community Project, NTT Energy andEnvironment Systems Laboratories.
She received the M.E. degree in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering fromWaseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1999. She
joined NTT in 1999 and has studied the lifecycle
inventory of teleconference systems. She is now
studying the designing of risk communication.

Yuichiro Takei
Senior Research Engineer, Eco-community
Project, NTT Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratories.
He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees inchemistry from Keio University, Tokyo, Japan,
in 1985 and 1987, respectively. In 1987, hejoined the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Public Corporation (now NTT). Since 2000, hehas been working on design and development ofinformation technologies in dairy farming. He isa member of the IEEE, the IEICE and the IPSJ.

Yasuyuki Sugiyama
Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor, Ecocommunity Project, NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories.
He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees
in electronic engineering from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1985, 1987, and 1994,respectively. In 1987, he joined the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (nowNTT). He engaged research on optical data storage systems from 1987 to 1993. He was a visiting researcher at Stanford University in 1998. Hehas been studying community communication
using environmental information technology
from 2002. Dr. Sugiyama is a member of theIEICE? and the APSJ?.

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