Sensorsystems in German dairy Farming - Aspects of hardware design and sustainability

Currently there are about 64.000 dairy farmers in Germany, with about 4 million dairy cows (DESTATIS, 2018b). While the number of farmers is decreasing during the last years due to structural changes in agriculture, the amount of cows stays nearly constant so the remaining farms are increasing in size. Nevertheless farm sizes are quite different in German regions so that the majority of farms has a size up to 100 hectare (DESTATIS, 2018a). The digital transformation of agriculture “agriculture 4.0” is in progress. Sensors are not only common in field machinery but also indoors. Automated milking systems or monitoring of air quality aspects are only two of numerous examples. In fact, there are also sensors attached to the animals, or even brought into the torso of it. This review shall have a look at sensor systems on German dairy farms and give information about sensor requirements for a farm. It has to be concluded that for example the IP standards are sufficient for sensor systems in farming houses. Having a look at sensors which are in direct contact to an animal, like rumen boluses or the like, further research has to be done and standardizations have to be implemented, especially due to food safety.