The Expert System Approach in Dairy Farm Design

Year 2026, Volume: 32 Issue: 2 , 267 - 278 , 24.03.2026

İlkay Alkan , Baki Ünal

https://doi.org/10.15832/ankutbd.1748223

https://izlik.org/JA32LF82WZ

Abstract

Ensuring animal welfare, labor efficiency, and sustainable productivity in dairy farms requires barn and facility designs that are compatible with herd structure and animal behaviour. The aim of this study is to present the development of an expert system called the Architectural Designing of Dairy Farms (ADDF), designed to automate and support the architectural planning process of dairy cattle operations. The system is based on ten modules encompassing herd size estimation, group management, and architectural layout of pens and service structures. Each module operates with clearly defined input-output relationships, and the system was implemented as a desktop application using Visual Basic 6.0. User-defined parameters, including the number of mature cows and milking shift length, allow for dynamic scenario analysis across different herd sizes and farm management strategies. A hypothetical case involving 250 dairy cows and a 3-hour milking shift was used to validate the model, and architectural plans were generated using AutoCAD. The results demonstrate that ADDF significantly reduces design time, improves decision-making in herd housing and infrastructure planning, and supports animal welfare-focused design principles. The system offers a flexible and practical tool to improve the efficiency of dairy farm design processes, with potential for integration into future smart farming systems. 

Keywords

Dairy cattle , Animal welfare , Farm designing , Information technologies

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