Abstract: A system and method for automatically drying-off a machine-milked dairy animal by controlling milk production during a gradual drying-off period. During the gradual drying-off period, the dairy animal is not milked out. For each milking during this period, an amount of milk to be removed is determined, which is less than the amount removed at a previous milking When the amount of milk for the current milking has been removed from the dairy animal, milking is stopped. The start of the gradual drying-off period is calculated from the dry-off date, the desired date of cessation of milking for this lactation, and from a predetermined drying-off period.

Abstract: A system for determining a welfare of an animal population, the system comprising: one or more monitoring devices configured to monitor parameters of members of the animal population; a data repository comprising one or more records, each of the records (i) being associated with a respective member of the members, and (ii) including one or more parameters of the respective member as monitored by at least one of the monitoring devices over time; and a processing circuitry configured to calculate a welfare score of the animal population based on the at least two of: (a) health scores calculated for at least some of the members, (b) natural living scores calculated for at least some of the members, or (c) affectivity/happiness scores calculated for at least some of the members.

Abstract: A system and method for automatically drying-off a machine-milked dairy animal by controlling milk production during a gradual drying-off period. During the gradual drying-off period, the dairy animal is not milked out. For each milking during this period, an amount of milk to be removed is determined, which is less than the amount removed at a previous milking. When the amount of milk for the current milking has been removed from the dairy animal, milking is stopped. The start of the gradual drying-off period is calculated from the dry-off date, the desired date of cessation of milking for this lactation, and from a predetermined drying-off period.