Milking Technology and Digitalization—In Memory of Professor Štefan Mihina

Dear Colleagues,

Recent times have witnessed a shift in terms of society’s requirements for the nutritional quality and safety of foods, as well as the use of raw materials for their production, with a growing number of customers now expecting much more of the food industry. In order to meet this goal in animal production, it is necessary to create the best environment for animals in terms of the technology used to provide the conditions that will protect animals’ health and ensure their welfare, secure high-quality and -quantity production of animal origin, and mitigate the known harmful influence of animal production on the environment. One possibility that can contribute to this goal is precision livestock farming (PLF), which can collect data on animals on an individual basis, process them, and manage technological processes utilizing digital tools. At dairy farms, the right place to apply such a concept is the milking equipment: cattle goes there several times per day,  so technology has to optimally “cooperate” with cows to achieve a smoother milk release, and  it is possible to collect a large amount of data there which, post-processing, can serve to improve not just the milking process but the entire farm management.  Experience to date has shown that milking equipment parameters, which are as close as possible to optimum, are beneficial. New milking technologies and technologies related to the milking process based on the collection of data on individual animals can rapidly improve nutritive and health milk quality, as well as its quantity.

Both the development of a new milking technology associated with or based on digital tools and its adoption need to be carefully evaluated. In particular, the adoption of a technology is linked to the very sensitive response of animals and the wider environment, including social, political, and economic issues. Therefore, any evaluation must include the assessment, comparison, appraisal or measurement of sustainability, economic aspects, and efficacy of studied or adopted innovative solutions.

The following are some of the topics proposed for this Special Issue (though do please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list):

• Evaluation of new milking technologies and technologies related to the milking process based on or connected to digital tools of different types and sizes;
• Monitoring of production-related factors (milk yield, milkability, milk content, udder health, etc.);
• Modelling of information obtained from new milking technologies;
• Adoption and penetration of new milking technologies;
• Economic evaluation of new milking technologies;
• Evaluation of sensors, actuators, big data analytics, and cloud computing.

Prof. Štefan Mihina (1950–2021)
Prof. Zuzana Palkova
Assist. Prof. Jana Lendelová
Prof. Dr. Viera Kažimírová
Guest Editors

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• milking technology
• digitalization
• data collection
• data processing
• data utilization
• new milking technology adoption