World’s first open-source digital twin for dairy farming

Description

SRUC’s Dairy Research Centre, has unveiled farm-twin, a world’s first open-source Digital Twin platform designed specifically to transform dairy farming.

Made possible through funding from the Digital Dairy Chain, part of the SRUC-led UKRI Strength in Places programme, this project explores the use of Digital Twin technology in dairy farming.

A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of the entire farm system from individual animals to infrastructure created using real-time data from sensors, telemetry and other digital tools.

One of the standout features of farm-twin is its ability to integrate multiple streams of data from different vendors and visualise data through intuitive dashboards, giving farmers an at-a-glance view of their entire operation. The platform also supports predictive analytics, allowing early detection of health issues or productivity drops before they escalate. For example, the system can combine milk yield trends with live health data to detect early signs of illness, triggering alerts or automated responses.

In fact, farm-twin can even automate on-farm decision-making. If an animal is flagged as potentially unwell, the system can trigger a shedding gate to isolate the cow, while notifying the farmer and providing context for the action.

By replicating the physical environment in a digital space, it enables farmers to monitor operations in real time, make data-driven decisions, and optimise the use of resources.

From optimised feeding and proactive health monitoring to enhanced environmental management, a digital twin plays a vital role in precision agriculture, advancing productivity, operational efficiency and sustainability in the dairy sector.

Dr Mazdak Salavati, Data Scientist at SRUC’s Dairy Research and Innovation Centre near Dumfries, said: “The real power of farm data lies in combining different sources to uncover insights that a single system alone can’t provide and with farm-twin, we’re enabling exactly that.

“farm-twin addresses this challenge head-on by aggregating data from a wide range of technologies into a single, unified platform. Pulling data in near real-time from various sources including animal health records, milk production, feed intake, and environmental conditions.”

Dr Matt Broadbent, Agri-tech Scientist at SRUC’s Dairy Research and Innovation Centre near Dumfries, said: “We believe open-source is the future of agri-tech. It ensures transparency, fosters innovation, and lowers the barriers for adoption across the industry.”

Beyond day-to-day use, the depth and breadth of data within farm-twin support advanced simulations, enabling more precise modelling of farm conditions and animal health status. The platform is built with scalability and performance in mind, suitable for farms of all sizes and tech setups. It also offers backward compatibility with legacy systems, allowing historical data to be imported and used.

Perhaps most importantly, farm-twin is completely open-source. This means anyone can freely download, use, modify, and distribute the code. Developers and researchers are encouraged to build adapters for new technologies and customise the platform to meet their needs.

Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive of SRUC, said: “With innovations like farm-twin, we are transforming dairy production systems and positioning the sector as a global leader in sustainable, data-driven agriculture. This open-source platform will support entrepreneurship, drive new market opportunities, and equip the workforce with vital digital skills all while accelerating our journey toward a more productive, resilient, and sustainable future.”

The link to the digital twin can be found here: https://github.com/digitaldairychain/farm-twin

Subject

Agritech, digital twin, dairy, phenomics, automation