8 January 2024 | Awoke Melak, Tesfalem Asegd, and Takele Shitaw
This review article explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on livestock farming, highlighting its historical development, current applications, and future potential. AI has revolutionized various aspects of livestock management, including animal identification, automated weighing systems, welfare monitoring, and reproductive management. The technology enhances efficiency, reduces resource use, and improves sustainability by minimizing the carbon footprint. AI tools enable farmers to simulate human decision-making, provide data interpretations, and automate tasks such as milking and vaccine delivery. However, challenges include the high cost of development, the need for infrastructure, and the potential for automation to replace human labor. The article also discusses the use of drones, robots, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in dairy farms, emphasizing their benefits in increasing productivity, reducing labor costs, and improving biosecurity. The review concludes with a proposed AI model for livestock farming, outlining steps for data collection, analysis, model development, deployment, evaluation, and refinement. The future applications of AI in agriculture are promising, but the industry must address ethical, legal, and environmental concerns to fully realize its potential.This review article explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on livestock farming, highlighting its historical development, current applications, and future potential. AI has revolutionized various aspects of livestock management, including animal identification, automated weighing systems, welfare monitoring, and reproductive management. The technology enhances efficiency, reduces resource use, and improves sustainability by minimizing the carbon footprint. AI tools enable farmers to simulate human decision-making, provide data interpretations, and automate tasks such as milking and vaccine delivery. However, challenges include the high cost of development, the need for infrastructure, and the potential for automation to replace human labor. The article also discusses the use of drones, robots, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in dairy farms, emphasizing their benefits in increasing productivity, reducing labor costs, and improving biosecurity. The review concludes with a proposed AI model for livestock farming, outlining steps for data collection, analysis, model development, deployment, evaluation, and refinement. The future applications of AI in agriculture are promising, but the industry must address ethical, legal, and environmental concerns to fully realize its potential.