Russian IT System Accelerates Cow Evaluation by 25 Times

Anastasiya Grecheneva, director of the Project Institute of Digital Transformation of the Agro-Industrial Complex, discussed the development. The system is designed for bonitation - determining the breeding and productive characteristics of animals based on appearance and other indicators.

According to Grecheneva, a traditional exterior evaluation of a cow takes a specialist 20–30 minutes. The digital complex can perform this procedure for 500 animals per day, improving measurement accuracy and reducing subjective assessment influence.

The hardware utilizes cameras that capture not only color images but also scene depth. This allows data about the animal to be formed as a spatial point cloud, which can be analyzed over time. Over 100 TB of data has been collected for the project, with computations conducted at the Timiryazevskaya akademiya.

Developers have completed modules related to body structure and main restrictive exterior parameters. Current tasks include digital evaluation of the udder and limbs.

Grecheneva noted that the team developed a methodology that allows experiments to be replicated and applied at different enterprises. The same technological approach is planned to be used in a system for early detection of pathologies, including lameness and metabolic disorders.

The speaker emphasized that accurate exterior evaluation is crucial for selective breeding work. She stated that maintaining even one percent of its quality could save between 300,000 to 385,000 tons of milk annually.