An Internet Information Service
for Animal Agriculture

Animal agriculture businesses, such as dairy farms, are immensely complicated enterprises which attempt to manage interacting biological and engineered systems to produce the most basic of human needs, food. Sophistication in dairy management continues to grow rapidly, which is reflected in productivity that increases at about five percent per year. Application of modern information technology in this diverse and widely distributed environment presents significant challenges, and an obvious opportunity to exploit Internet technology.

DairySight^® will exploit Internet communications and a virtual corporation design pattern to develop and deliver information tools that are suitable for maximizing profitability of dairy herds. Building on proprietary technology developed in our USDA-funded research project, and using multiple Internet data sources (including existing DHIA databases), we will produce and sell highly customized reports targeted to individual herds and specific problems in dairy herd management. Such high-value information is increasingly in demand by veterinarians, nutritionists, herd consultants, and dairy farmers because of the large influence information has on herd profitability.

The market value of information is dependent on its credibility, timeliness, and applicability to problems that are both controllable and economically important. A panoply of "confounding factors" influence biological systems, and sorting out interacting factors is often beyond the abilities of existing ag information systems. Even basic information such as the degree of a milk production response to a change in management can be difficult or impossible to obtain (at least with precision comparable to the cost of implementing typical changes). This leads to costly errors.

By using n-tier Internet architecture with integral security and settlement subsystems we will be able to build an open environment that fosters development of information tools that are tuned to market demands. DairySight^® will develop certain key products internally, but also serve as a broker for information tools developed by others. A secondary income stream will come from closely controlled advertising and referrals. These can be targeted precisely using session data collected as customers use particular tools.

With our early development lead, and by maintaining an open management structure, we will build alliances with key players in the existing dairy records industry and leverage powerful new information technology to attain and hold a dominant position in this developing market. We will also be in position to expand services horizontally within agriculture and exploit new opportunities that may develop as technology advances.

A Sample Scenario

Suppose that a dairyman has begun using a new feed additive. Examining total herd milk production, he does not see the increase he expected, but does this reflect lack of efficacy or a superimposed decline from other causes? The dairyman (or his veterinarian, or his nutritionist…) connects to the Internet using a web browser and logs into a DairySight^® account. A few clicks select the milk production profile. DairySight's back end pulls up the latest DHIA production data for this herd, and processes it through a proprietary lactation model, to produce a graphic display which makes it clear that cows that have calved in the last two weeks are milking poorly. Resetting a filter to exclude those cows shows that the rest of the herd has indeed improved milk production by 2 pounds per day, more than enough to pay for the additive.

Now he examines those fresh cows. Sometimes variations in milk components are suggestive of specific health problems, and we'll assume that an independent expert has developed a method for detecting problems with inadequate protein in the pre-fresh ration based on a characteristic pattern in milk component levels, and licensed the method to DairySight^®. We'll further assume that this pattern is found in this farm's fresh cows. We'll want to examine the pre-fresh ration.

DairySight^® might incorporate server-side ration analysis software, or automate the process of piping production data and feed data into a client-side nutrition package. In either case DairySight^® could query an Internet-connected forage analysis laboratory, and automatically add the results to a feed library. We'll assume that analysis of a recent forage sample shows surprisingly low protein levels, (which explains the mystery.) We'll need to add some protein concentrate to the pre-fresh ration.

Here's an advertising opportunity - suppose there is a proprietary feed ingredient available that combines high quality protein with a DCAD profile that makes it desirable for pre-fresh rations. DairySight^® knows this customer may be looking for such a product, so can place a marginal advertisement offering more information. The ad might offer a free run of DairySight's DCAD Analysis report to users who view a short promotional sequence explaining the advantages of the product.

Whether he chooses to buy the advertised product or another concentrate, our hypothetical user will want to check price and availability through DairySight's link to his feed supplier, then email the recalculated premix recipe for delivery the next day, and maybe also copies of key reports (with his added annotations) to a consultant.

DairySight^® has required no human intervention in this process besides input from the user. It has used data and some proprietary methods (for which there may be fees), and consumed nothing. There will be a charge billed to the users account (based on detailed tracking of usage), and a credit from the advertiser. For the investment of a few dollars, the user has avoided rejecting use of a product that was actually making him money, learned about a new feed ingredient, and fixed an unsuspected problem in his pre-fresh ration. He will be able to return to DairySight^® to monitor the effect of his changes.

Of course this is a contrived scenario, though not unrealistic. Success of DairySight^® will not depend on any one type of analysis. By combining proven technology for managing data with a business model that provides incentives for cooperation among the many sources of data as well as many sources of knowledge on exploiting that data, we will foster the growth of a marketplace for dairy information that can be hugely profitable to both users and investors.

Initial research and development has been supported by two Small Business Innovation Research grants from the USDA, for which we are immensely grateful.

Many DairySight capabilities would not be possible without the cooperation of members of the the DHIA system.