The potential use of information technologies in agriculture and livestock industry: An example application

Information technology, as in every field, has been increasing its importance in the agricultural and animal husbandry sectors as well and it constitutes a fundamental source for an extraordinarily efficient production at a lower cost. Recording of data in conventional methods, particularly for small livestock enterprises, leads to low production, loss of productivity and high operating expenses. Furthermore, it causes animal deaths due to some diseases although they are foreseeable and preventable. This study is introducing a web-based software project which is applicable to stockbreeding farms, especially in rural areas which are not managed professionally. Nowadays, information technology, which has just become a necessity for use in any business that wishes to increase competitiveness, will also enable farm owners to capture a more regular growth rate, by saving time and operating expenses in this Project. In general, the objective of improving a livestock farm in every sense will form the basis of this study. The needs of stockbreeding farms managers have been analyzed and the user-friendly interface of the system, requiring only a device with access to the Internet, offering the chance to work independently of time and place, a system, which can be used for small and medium-sized livestock enterprises, has emerged with graphical reports which will help the decision-making processes of the farm managers. Under the current conditions, the system will faciliate the monitoring of important issues such as general stock on farms, tracking of purchase and sale, monitoring of medical checkups,monitoring of seasonal weight measurements and examining them retrospectively and also support the decision-making processes of business managers. The introduced sample system is projected to act as a bridge between farm workers and managers in medium-sized enterprises; and in smaller establishments, data entry and the ability to organize them on a regular basis and to provide a contribution to the livestock farmer with a summarised information about the overall situation. It is possible to render the system more efficient by adding new modules or revising existing ones to meet new needs that could possibly arise from internal processes of livestock establishments in future. Keywords: Farm, Animal Husbandry, Livestock Farming, Modern Livestock Farm, Agriculture 4.0, Cattle Breeding, Animal Tracking System