Artificial intelligence to improve animal welfare and goat milk quality

dmc, Sikab And Boalfit Iled by com. dcoopThe first steps have been taken by an executive group to improve goat milk, called the development of an artificial intelligence tool that monitors the use of therapeutic alternatives of natural origin to improve goat milk production in Andalusia (File: GOPG -MA- 23-0002), Health4Got.

The main objective of GO Health4Goat consists of developing a computational tool (reinforcement learning algorithms) that allows to objectively recommend the application of phytotherapy to improve animal welfare, productivity and milk quality and this in turn allows to reduce the use of antimicrobials on dairy goat farms in Andalusia.

The following are seen as specific objectives:

1) Collect and analyze official milk monitoring data conducted on dairy goat farms to evaluate their development in terms of their production values, milk quality and animal welfare.

2) Study new combinations of plant or plant extracts that improve the health status of the animal, improve gut health (microbiome) and reduce the environmental impact on dairy goat farms.

3) Study the presence of antimicrobial resistance and bacterial populations in the dairy sector and their potential relationship to the use of therapeutic alternatives. Collect information on the efficiency of protein feeding depending on the diet.

4) Development of artificial intelligence algorithms based on reinforcement learning through automated capture of milk quality data and environmental sensors that allow the issuance of specific proposals for the incorporation of medicinal plant extracts into the diet.

The Andalusian Operational Group was formed by a group of Andalusian companies and research centers led by the first-class agricultural cooperative Dcoop, the largest producer of olive oil worldwide and one of the major players in the national dairy goat sector.

Also participating are the technology company Boalvet AI, dedicated to creating and providing computer services for the agri-food sector, the Córdoba Technological Center Cicap and the DMC SL Research Center, whose priority line of research and development is the investigation of new active ingredients obtained from sources of natural products of plant or Microbial with bacterial capabilities, and through this operational group, they intend to improve their ingredients for animal feed, especially in goat milk. DMC Research will act as technical coordinator for the project.