title: A knowledge-based system for diagnosis of mastitis problems at the herd level. 2. Machine milking.
abstract: A knowledge-based system for the diagnosis of mastitis problems at the herd level must search for possible causes, including malfunctioning milking machines or incorrect milking technique. A knowledge-based system on general mechanisms of mastitis infection, using hierarchical conditional causal models, was extended. Model building entailed extensive cooperation between the knowledge engineer and a domain expert. The extended knowledge-based system contains 12 submodels underlying the overview models. Nine submodels were concerned with mastitis problems arising from machine milking. These models are briefly described. The knowledge-based system has been validated by other experts after which the models were adjusted slightly. The final knowledge-based system was validated to data collected at 17 commercial dairy farms with high SCC in the bulk milk. Reports containing the farm data were accompanied by recommendations made by a dairy farm advisor. This validation showed good agreement between the knowledge-based system and the dairy farm advisors. The described knowledge-based system is a good tool for dairy farm advisors to solve herd mastitis problems caused by a malfunctioning milking machine or incorrect milking technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Herd Health and Reproduction, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hogeveen
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: van Vliet
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Noordhuizen-Stassen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Koning
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Tepp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D002417:Cattle; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003612:Dairying / Q000379:methods*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission*