Recent research and development of individual precision cooling systems for dairy cows – A review

Wenqi Zhang, Ruimin Yang, Christopher Y. Choi, Li Rong, Guoqiang Zhang, Kaiying Wang, Xiaoshuai Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperReviewResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Individual precision-cooling systems are intended to cool individual cows according to their specific cooling needs. Now, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine-vision capabilities, various precision-cooling techniques and control systems have been proposed, any number of which could prove to be a feasible way to apply precision cooling. Hence, this review provides a comprehensive overview of recently developed and tested systems such as spray cooling, air-forced convection cooling, and waterbed cooling. The feasibility of commercialization of these systems was also evaluated. Additionally, the existing methods used to detect the heat stress-related physiological responses of dairy cows and their adaptability for precision cooling systems were summarized and assessed. Cutting-edge technologies such as wearable detection devices, frequency-modulated, continuous-wave radar, infrared thermography, and computer vision could potentially be used to monitor real-time physiological parameters. In addition, the various automatic-control technologies used to regulate livestock-barn environments (technologies that involve proportional–integral–derivative controls, predictive models, and reinforcement learning) are also reviewed. As the automatic-control system is an aspect scarcely addressed in the context of current dairy-farm operations, only a limited number of control technologies were found to be in use at a dairy farm. The importance of control logic and system was highlighted in the context of precision cooling. This review ends with the conclusion that before real-time heat-stress-monitoring and state-of-the-art control strategies can be integrated into precision cooling systems, more work should be done to determine whether either can significantly improve the effectiveness of currently used cooling systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article number109248
JournalComputers and Electronics in Agriculture
Volume225
ISSN0168-1699
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Keywords

  • Dairy cows
  • Environmental control systems
  • Heat stress evaluation
  • Physiological information sensing
  • Precision cooling system

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