A knowledge-based system for diagnosis of mastitis problems at the herd level. 2. Machine milking.
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.
Hogeveen
H
H
Department of Herd Health and Reproduction, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
van Vliet
J H
JH
Noordhuizen-Stassen
E N
EN
De Koning
C
C
Tepp
D M
DM
Brand
A
A
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*