Symposium review: The most important factors affecting adoption of precision dairy monitoring technologies

Precision dairy monitoring involves the use of technologies to measure physiological, behavioral, and production indicators on individual animals to detect events of interest. Estrus, disease, and calving detection are common applications, although estrus detection is the most tested and used. Many precision dairy monitoring technologies (PDMT) are commercially available and are being used in research and on farms. As a result, a common question from researchers and producers alike is, "what PDMT should I buy?" The answer to this question is inherently complicated because it depends on many factors, some of which researchers have yet to explore. The objective of this paper is to examine the less quantitively researchable aspects of PDMT adoption and use on-farm. This will be done through 3 lists of 5, determined from published theory and my own experience. First, the 5 main factors that influence adoption of an innovation: (1) relative advantage, (2) compatibility, (3) complexity, (4) trialability, and (5) observability. Each of these factors is at play to a different extent in the 5 adopter categories: (1) innovators, (2) early adopters, (3) early majority, (4) late majority, and (5) laggards. From my experience and research, the top PDMT are those that improve (1) farm efficiency; (2) farm economics; (3) decision-making; (4) animal welfare; and (5) producer happiness. Implementing PDMT on a farm is an enormous and potentially expensive decision. As this part of the industry continues to progress, the potential for different PDMT is endless. Sound research and producer feedback are imperative to ensuring that PDMT continue to improve and become more widely adopted.