INTERACTIVE MODEL OF A DAIRY FARM: SHORT COMMUNICATION
Keywords:
decision, tool, dairy farmAbstract
The objective of this paper is to introduce and illustrate the application EkonMOD milk, the decision support tool concept for dairy farm managements. The purpose of this simple web-based application is to assist dairy farms managers to better understand the dynamics of the dairy herd structure and to improve economically sensible decision-making abilities in Slovak conditions. The first module was developed to raise awareness about replacement heifer rearing costs and it can serve as a tool to evaluate specific economic and production parameters of a user specified dairy operation. The module Emissions from dairy farm was developed to allow individual dairy farm managers to calculate the GHG footprint of user-specified dairy operation. The EkonMOD milk tool introduced by the National Agricultural and Food Centre - Research Institute for Animal Production Nitra (NPPC - RIAP) continuously integrates applications previously developed in the sphere of dairy cow husbandry into one platform under the title "Interactive model of a dairy farm". The research and development team run this open access platform for relevant stakeholders to support the environmental and economic performance of dairy farms and to actively seek sound and smart solutions for the inevitable transition to circular economy and well-developed circular agro food systems in the future, with the key role of animal production.
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