How Are Dairies Using Precision Ag?

When it comes to implementation of precision agriculture technologies on dairies nationwide, what do the numbers show?  USDA recently tried to answer that question with a recent Report.

Johnathan McFadden with ERS, said they looked at dairies, breaking them into a variety of categories, including herd size and region.  When it comes to the region of the country.

“In terms of farms that are using all three technology types, milking data and breeding, we find that adoption tends to be highest in an area called the fruitful rim,” McFadden noted.

The 'fruitful rim' is a region of the southwest from California to Texas.  After that, the region using precision Ag the most stretches from southern Atlantic coast and southeast.  When it comes to herd size and the use of robotic milking.

“Adoption tends to be most concentrated in the size class of around 150 to 499 head of cows,” McFadden noted.  He said that is due to optimal economic factors for that size of dairy cow herd.

Click Here to read the entire ERS report.

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