LAIT-XPERT VACHES: an expert system for dairy herd management

An expert system called LAIT-XPERT VACHES, developed to evaluate technical management of dairy enterprises, was tested using case data. The expertise of the system was provided from information obtained from interviews of three dairy management or nutrition experts. LAIT-XPERT VACHES contains over 950 rules and runs on IBM-compatible personal computers. It calculates objectives in milk production, fat and protein production, feeding cost, reproduction, and other areas. In addition, it detects problems and high performance according to these objectives; researches the causes of problems in herd management, feeding, genetics, health, housing, and other areas; and lists conclusions by sector. Using a monthly report of 10 farms registered in the DHI program of Quebec, LAIT-XPERT VACHES issued 92.3% of the conclusions also issued by experts. However, the experts revealed only 53.3% of conclusions reached by the expert system. With Agri-Lait reports of three farms, all conclusions of LAIT-XPERT VACHES were validated by the experts. These results demonstrated that use of an expert system makes it possible to obtain analyses of dairy performance data equivalent to those of human experts.