Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Predicting Energy And Water Consumption On Dairy Farms Through Statistical Analysis And Machine-Learning Methods, Philip Shine Jan 2018

Predicting Energy And Water Consumption On Dairy Farms Through Statistical Analysis And Machine-Learning Methods, Philip Shine

Theses

With the abolishment of milking quotas across all European Union member states in April 2015, dairy farmers must adjust their farming practises to minimise milk production costs to adequately prepare for potential periods of reduced revenue. Milk production is an intense energy and water consuming process. Coupled with challenging European greenhouse gas reduction targets and legislation regarding the prevention of groundwater pollution and deterioration, increasing the production of milk in Ireland must be met with the sustainable consumption of on-farm energy and direct water resources, to ensure the future monetary and environmental sustainability of Ireland’s dairy industry. Thus, this body …


Development Of Multi-Class Analytical Methods For Agrochemical Contaminants, Sarah Tuck Jan 2018

Development Of Multi-Class Analytical Methods For Agrochemical Contaminants, Sarah Tuck

Theses

In this project, cost-effective multi-class analytical methods were developed to detect a range of antiparasitic, feed additive and pesticide substances in foodstuffs of animal origin. These substances have the potential to enter the food chain through their occurrence as residues either through the animals themselves or other routes e.g. contamination. To ensure the continued safety of food destined for human consumption regulatory control limits have been established for permitted levels of these residues in foods of animal origin. Despite these controls the continued monitoring of foodstuffs is necessary to ensure these limits are not breached and that substances are not …


The Use Of Machine Learning To Detect Suckling In Pre-Weaned Calves, Sukumar Katamreddy Jan 2018

The Use Of Machine Learning To Detect Suckling In Pre-Weaned Calves, Sukumar Katamreddy

Theses

The weaning of cattle is a process which is known to be labour intensive and to have stressful effects on both cow and calf Common methods used in the weaning process include the temporary removal of a mother from the calf and manual observation and intervention. Early and speedy weaning is known to have a number of benefits, including health benefits for both cow and calf, additional weight gains for the calves as well as reduced labour and feed requirements. The process known as Two-Stage Weaning is recognised to be an effective low-stress approach to weaning in which the calf …


An Application Of Time Series Methods To Investigate Eu Dairy Commodity Price Dynamics, Dennis Bergmann Jan 2017

An Application Of Time Series Methods To Investigate Eu Dairy Commodity Price Dynamics, Dennis Bergmann

Theses

Fundamental changes to the common agricultural policy (CAP) have led to greater market orientation which in turn has resulted in significantly changed price dynamics of EU dairy prices. These changed dynamics include sharply increased price variability of EU farm gate milk prices as well EU dairy commodity prices such as butter and Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP). In addition it was expected that EU dairy prices will align to Word dairy prices. This alignment of prices would also see an alignment of volatility levels which were significantly higher for World dairy prices than EU dairy prices. The aim of this thesis …


Exploration And Implementation Of Innovative Efficiencies/Devices In Beet Processing For Energy Production, Patrick Mcinerney Jan 2016

Exploration And Implementation Of Innovative Efficiencies/Devices In Beet Processing For Energy Production, Patrick Mcinerney

Theses

The imminent depletion of fossil fuels, as well as concerns for energy security and the obligation to respond to climate change has led to expanding worldwide popularity of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of energy crops. Sugar beet is a popular AD feedstock due to its favourable characteristics; however it can be quite labour intensive requiring a range of specialist equipment to process the crop prior to undergoing AD. A crucial stage of this process involves the size reduction of beet by a mechanical chopper unit; this pretreatment breaks open the cellulose structure of the crop and increases the surface area available …


Evaluation, Adaptation And Validation Of A Model To Predict Grass Growth In Ireland, Christina Hurtado Uria Jan 2013

Evaluation, Adaptation And Validation Of A Model To Predict Grass Growth In Ireland, Christina Hurtado Uria

Theses

Budgeting grass supply allows producers to minimise the quantity of purchased feed required in the diet of grazing livestock. One tool for managing grass supply could be a mathematical model that can simulate grass growth. The development of such a model would allow better management around the variability of feed supply and help identify feed surpluses and deficits, and therefore increase the accuracy of management decisions. This would be a key feature of profitable milk and meat production systems in the future which will be hugely important as global food demand increases due to population growth. It is forecasted that …