Researchers from Estonia, Finland, Germany and Slovakia have launched a joint project SmartForWelfare aimed at improving animal health and welfare management in dairy farms through herd health programmes and smart farming solutions. Although new technologies and herd health and welfare programmes offer important support for farmers, their adoption has been slower than expected. There is still a lack of comprehensive knowledge about the factors that influence the use of these tools and the real benefits they provide across different dairy production systems in Europe.
The project will explore the views of dairy farmers and value chain actors to understand what encourages or hinders the use of smart technologies for monitoring and managing animal health and welfare. It will also assess how farmers perceive the usefulness of health and welfare programmes in terms of animal welfare and the economic sustainability of their farms. In addition, the project will compare data collection practices and operating principles of existing herd health programmes in different countries and analyses which incentives or support measures help farmers adopt innovative solutions. The overall aim is to develop recommendations that enable public and private sector stakeholders to better support adoption of technologies and management programmes that improve animal health and welfare.
Project partners emphasize that the results will help accelerate the uptake of smart technologies and advance the development of sustainable livestock production across Europe.