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Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231

“ST26733”, International Conference "Agriculture for Life, Life for Agriculture"

A New Software Programme for Data Management in Dairy Farms

Vasile MACIUCa*, ùteofil CREANGĂa, Domnica MACIUCb, Livia VIDUc
a*
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Iasi, address 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley,
700490, Iaúi, Romania
b
Department of Mathematics-Statistics, “Richard Wurmbrand” College, 13 Smârdan Street, Iaúi, Romania
c
University of Agronomicall Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, 59 Marasti Blvd.,
District 1, 011464, Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

The current paper presents the original results regarding a software programme for production and reproduction data
management in dairy farms, used also in the accounting department and in the genetic breeding of bovine herds. A management
system database - SGBD - which assures the independence of logical correlations between dates and their minimum redundancy -
was used for this purpose. This provided a fast development and a cost-effective use of application programmes for data
exploring from a complex structure and also fast access to the dates, providing them a very good security. Therefore, SGBD is an
assembly of programmes which allow the users to interact with a database, designed for large amounts of information, whose
management requires not only a rigorous structure but also a rational access and processing.
The programme called “C.O.P & R.G” was designed and developed at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary
Medicine, Faculty of Animal Sciences, Iaúi, Romania and addresses to farmers and units dealing with accounting and improving
the milk production of dairy cattle.

©
© 2015
2015 Published by Published
The Authors. Elsevier B.V. This is an
by Elsevier open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
B.V.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest.
Peer-review under responsibility of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest
Keywords: cattle, data management, farms, milk, software.

1. Introduction

Software programmes for dairy cow breeding management appeared in the past two decades. In the last years,
the request and usage of such instruments was intensified. Today, the diversity on the market is great through
various products which appeared, each of them having its own characteristics and properties, being able to answer

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +40-742-95-6865; fax: +40-232-260-650.

E-mail address: vmaciuc@yahoo.fr

2210-7843 © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest
doi:10.1016/j.aaspro.2015.08.063
 Vasile Maciuc et al. / Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231 227

the breeders’ various demands and exigencies for data management (Fiez et al., 1998; Sorensen and Enevolden,
1992; Zwald et al., 2004; Wolf et al., 2008).
The first software for dairy cow breeding management was introduced in the middle of the 80’s. In animal
husbandry there started to appear new exigencies and tendencies in data management connected more and more with
the application of the new technologies, breeding practices and assistance plans. These applications range from
nutrition system management, planning of the reproduction activities, gynaecologic and veterinary health care, to
morphological and genetic evaluation of animals (linear system and genetic indexes) in respect to the selection and
improvement of breeding animals (BLUP). In this context, software programmes represent a new and efficient
instrument for providing a rational and opportune management of different aspects, which are involved in cattle
breeding in particular and for populations in general. In the coming years, the farmers’ demands will increase and
the already existing software will be improved and progressively updated and will also be accompanied by more
advanced new software. Some of these are especially developed for technological processes management (feeding,
breeding, reproduction, etc.), and others are specialised at a higher level for using new technological processes such
as: quantitative and qualitative automatic dosage of production, pedometers, etc.
It should be noted that in addition to the “traditional” management, software products are more and more
regarded as a flexible instrument for analysis and programming into a technological flow (Benser, 2003; Sorensen et
al., 2008). In other words, these are required functions which allow carrying on a more or less complex analysis and
personalized of breeding performances to discover the critical points.
An examination of the farmers’ problems is very important for an efficient usage of this instrument and to avoid
the possibility, which in many cases has become real, of sub-usage or misuse of software programmes. So it is
absolutely necessary to plan the usage of the software programmes, in other words to establish with departments of a
farm will be automated. For the same purpose, there will take place the identification of the data to be tracked and
also the human resources (users) respective to technological resources (software-related peripheral units) which will
be used. These are some aspects strongly connected between them, since the decision of using a certain technology
was made, and means to assure an organisation form and the type of management procedures could determine the
possibility of exploitation or not of some certain opportunities provided by software programmes.

2. Research Methods

Through this original programme C.O.P & R.G, we try to achieve an efficient data management regarding the
milk production from a farm and also the selection works carried out based on the official control of the
performances but also on directed reproduction, especially through artificial inseminations (Maciuc et al., 2008).
Also we try to assure flexibility for animals’ recording with all the upgraded data, with possibilities of adding new
data for the same animal, introducing new breeds or lines, identifying animals as easy as possible in the moment of
data extraction or to create new databases used for different statistical interpretations, creating origin certificates,
data files (savings, security, etc.) (Maciuc, 2008; Wolf et al., 2008).
For this purpose, a database management system, SGBD, was used to assure the independence between data
logic relations and their minimum redundancy. This system allows a rapid development and provides a low price of
data application programmes exploring from a complex structure, also providing fast access to dates and a strong
security of them. In other words SGBD assembles programmes which allow the users to interact with a database
designed usually for great amounts of dates at its management level to impose not only a rigorous structure but also
an easy access and rational processing. The programme language used is Fox-Pro; it is well structured and belongs
to SGBD category. A server for the database could operate both locally and intranet. The specific interrogators for
the database are SQL (Short Query Language) interrogators, insert, update and delete. The interaction with the user
or potential farmer was made through WinForms (Maciuc et al., 2009).
The Fox-Pro system can be mainly used by two categories of users: designers and software developers who write
Fox-Pro applications; and final users who are able to easily administrate the dates using the user interface. In order
to run the application, it is necessary to have a computer with Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP or Vista operation
system. The software cannot run on LINUX or on MS-DOS.
228 Vasile Maciuc et al. / Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231

3. Results and Discussion

The recommended configuration by the software designers is: a Processor PIV, RAM memory 1, a Hard disk
(HDD) 100 GB (out of which 10 GB must be free), a CD-ROM/CD-WRITER or a DVD-ROM/DVD-WRITER,
operating system Windows XP (Zwald and others, 2004). The main modules of the application are: interface with
the user (GUI), business logic module (Business Logic Layer), access module to database (Data Access Layer). The
application’s functional diagram is presented in Figure 1 and its lifetime cycle is shown in Figure 2.
The software installation is simple: by inserting the CD and by accessing the SETUP option there will appear
indications with the necessary steps to be done for a complete software installation. The CD contains “Software
Installation and users’ manual”. At the end of the software installation there will appear a message “C.O.P & R.G
Install Setup was successfully completed”. If an error appears during the software installation, the software
developers will be contacted and the content of the error message will be specified. To end the installation click OK.
After launching, the application will appear in a window like the one in Figure 3. AUTENTIFICARE
(identification) module – is used to secure the database through a password. After filling the fields “user” and
“password”, the OK option should be chosen. The password can be changed later and the option is described in the
user’s manual. The option “IESIRE” (exit) serves to quit the software. In the case of a mistyped password, an error
message will appear. If the identification was successfully carried out, the user will have full access to the
application menu.
Figure 4 presents the interface with the main menu “UTILIZATOR” (user) from which the farmer can chose the
desired options (4). The main menu which can be accessed refers to using, adding data, modifying data, lactation
updating, deleting data, database generation and certificates of origin; the back-up and help menu is included in the
programme guide. The “UTILIZATOR” (user) menu is used to secure the database with a password. The option
“Iesire” (exit) serves to quit the software.
The “ADAUGA” (insert) menu has the option “Inregistrare” (registration) – when we want to register an animal
into the database with or without complete information, the option “Lactatie” (lactation) – when the animal is
registered into the database and we have more lactation to insert, the option “Rasa” (breed) – when we have to insert
a new breed into the database, respectively its name, its identification number and other information.
The menu “MODIFICA” (modify) has the option “Inregistrare” (registration) – used when we want to modify or
to update the already registered data from books and ascendancy, the option “Lactatie” (lactation) – when we want
to modify or to complete the registered data from one lactation. Last but not least, through this option there can be
made upgrades to the milk production controls on lactations (when lactation with a control was registered and the
next step is to register the next control). The option “Rasa” (breed) – when a breed was inserted by mistake and a
correction must be made.
The menu “GENEREAZA” (generate) has the option “Certificat de origine” (certificate of origin) – when we
want to edit the origin certificate of an animal and for this we need ascendancy and productions. The option
“Inregistrari” (registration) –allows displaying the total number of registrations and the option “Fisiere date” (data
file) – to generate database function of options with saving and printing possibilities. The menu “AJUTOR” (help)
contains the software user’s guide and information regarding the software authors.
 Vasile Maciuc et al. / Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231 229

User Interface (GUI)

Here the user (the farmer or the PC operator) enters specific information about cows. The application is a
windows form application and has a rich user interface. The interface is very simple to use. When the user
finishes entering the data and clicks the Save button, the application reads the information entered by the user
from the specific controls. At this stage the system validates all information from the controls. (For mandatory
fields, the range of numeric fields is validated). If validation fails, the user will be informed and should fix all
problems by clicking the Save button again. After validation is completed (all the required information is
completed correctly), the system will send the data entered by the user to the Business Logic Layer (BLL).

Business Logic Layer (BLL).

Business Logic Layer is the module that contains all the logic of the application. In the classes
included in this module there will be logic for specific formulas.
The module performs all the logic validation and if validation fails, the control will be sent back to the
GUI module, and the user will be informed about all errors that occur.
After all the logic validation has been performed, and all specific calculations have been made, the
result will be sent to Data Access Layer (DAL).

Data Access Layer (DAL).

This module is used to make specific requests to Data Base Server. The request to select, insert, update or delete
information from DB will be sent by this module directly to Data Base Server. When Data Base Server has
shown the result, the data will be sent to the BLL module, and then the data will be sent to the GUI (to the
user).

Figure 1. Functional Diagram of Software

230 Vasile Maciuc et al. / Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231

Figure 2. The Aplication’s Lifetime Cycle

Figure 3. Acces into the Programme

 Vasile Maciuc et al. / Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia 6 (2015) 226 – 231 231

Figure 4. Main Menu of Programme

4. Conclusion

In animal husbandry there started to appear new exigencies and tendencies in data management connected more
and more with the application of the new technologies, breeding practices and assistance plans. This provided a fast
development and a cost-effective use of application programmes for data exploring from a complex structure and
also fast access to the dates, providing them a very good security. Therefore, SGBD is an assembly of programmes
which allow the users to interact with a database, designed for large amounts of information, whose management
requires not only a rigorous structure but also a rational access and processing.

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