Big data and AI will underpin the next era of dairy farming enabling faster, smarter decisions around herd health, feeding, and productivity. But none of this works without high-quality, consistent data at the cow and herd level. That’s where DDW comes in, providing the trusted data infrastructure that powers predictive tools, dashboards, and insights used by nutrition and feeding companies.
Key Account Manager, Europe
Dairy Data Warehouse
Dairy consultants who harness high quality herd data and embrace new technologies will be essential to the future of dairy farming. From feeding and health to genetics and cow monitoring, consultants play a vital role in helping farmers make the right decisions. To do this effectively, they need access to accurate, real-time data and meaningful KPI tools that enable them to drive efficiency, profitability, and long-term sustainability across the dairy farms they support. We talked with JP Dorgan, Key Account Manager, Europe, at Dairy Data Warehouse, for more details.
Mr. Dorgan, for readers who may not be familiar, could you briefly introduce Dairy Data Warehouse? What is your company’s core mission, and which solutions make it stand out?
Dairy Data Warehouse (DDW) is a Dutch-based company with over 12 years of experience helping the global dairy industry unlock the full potential of farm data.
We turn complex dairy data into actionable insights that drive more sustainable and profitable farming.
We connect directly to herd management and on-farm systems, processing and standardising millions of data points daily into a consistent, high-quality dataset. This allows dairy professionals whether in nutrition, genetics, animal health, or cow monitoring to work with accurate, comparable information across all their herds.
In practice, if a consultant supports 20+ herds using different software systems, DDW removes the complexity by collecting, cleaning, and harmonising all that data in the cloud. The result is a seamless data flow into the consultant’s own tools, enabling faster, smarter decision-making on farm.
The term “big data” might not yet be fully understood in the agriculture sector. Could you explain what big data means in the context of DDW and what it signifies for farm management?
At DDW, big data means turning millions of individual cow records collected across 50+ countries into actionable insights. This includes data on feeding, reproduction, health, milk production, and more, gathered and harmonised across different systems and platforms.
We don’t just collect the data, we standardise it, validate it, and transform it into over 130 meaningful KPIs that dairy consultants can use to support their clients, whether remotely or on farm.
In practical terms, big data enables:
• Comparing performance across herds, regions, and time,
• Generating predictive alerts for disease risk or underperformance,
• Supporting prescriptive actions, like ration adjustments or breeding strategy,
• Making data-driven decisions that improve farm profitability and sustainability.
Big data isn’t just about volume, it’s about consistency, context, and confidence in every decision. That’s what DDW delivers.
Increasing efficiency is one of the biggest goals in the dairy and livestock sector. How do DDW’s data analysis solutions concretely improve farm profitability and operational efficiency? For example, what improvements do you provide in areas such as feeding?
At DDW, we work with leading companies in nutrition, genetics, monitoring, and advisory services to provide their consultants with accurate, up to date herd insights. Our solutions help them make better, faster decisions that improve both efficiency and sustainability on farm.
For example, in nutrition and feeding:
• We combine individual cow data with TMR information to support ration formulation tools.
• We enable direct integration of herd inventory, group, and production data with mixer wagons to automatically adjust feed loads.
• We deliver milk yield and feeding efficiency metrics per cow, helping nutritionists fine tune diets to optimise milk output and cost.
By connecting and standardising these data streams, DDW turns information into measurable performance gains across feeding.
Dairy farmers are often faced with an intense flow of data. How does your system collect data from different sources and interpret/visualize this complex data in a way that facilitates decision-making processes?
Dairy farmers increasingly rely on their trusted consultants to interpret complex data. DDW supports this by providing clean, standardised herd and cow data directly into the tools used by nutrition, genetics, and service companies.
In simple terms, DDW powers the systems consultants already use, supplying the herd data and KPIs, while they handle visualisation and advisory support.
For customers who prefer a ready-made solution, our product Optiherd offers a clear dashboard view of all herds, highlighting key KPIs and automatically flagging which herds need attention. It makes complex data simple, actionable, and focused on results.
What kind of hardware or software investments does a feeding company need to make initially to start working with DDW? How long does the integration process take, and how complex is it?
We have developed our own plug-and-play platform called Herdnet. With Herdnet, it is super easy for our customers to connect their dairy clients herd software in a matter of minutes and collect data directly from multiple dairy/feeding software. There is no software or hardware purchase required.
How important are data privacy and security in DDW’s data collection and analysis processes? What measures do you take in this regard?
We take the security of data very seriously. We have numerous policies in place to make sure that the data is stored safely and securely. Dairy Data Warehouse works on the principle that the data provider (in most cases this will be the farm owner) remains the owner of the data. As a consequence, the owner exclusively decides whether we are allowed to transfer and store their farm data on our dairy data platform and who has the right to view them. We will never display individual, non-anonymized farm data to anyone who has not been authorized by the farmer. All our terms and conditions are available to review on our website.
In your opinion, how will big data and artificial intelligence technologies transform the dairy and livestock sector in the next 5–10 years? What role does DDW aim to play in this transformation?
Big data and AI will underpin the next era of dairy farming enabling faster, smarter decisions around herd health, feeding, and productivity. But none of this works without high-quality, consistent data at the cow and herd level. That’s where DDW comes in, providing the trusted data and artificial intelligence infrastructure that powers predictive tools, dashboards, and insights used by nutrition and feeding companies.
Still, even the best data and technology won’t replace people. We’ll need the next generation of skilled consultants who can interpret these insights and turn them into action on farm. That’s what will truly drive efficient, sustainable dairy systems.
About JP Dorgan
Coming from a farming background in Cork, Ireland, JP Dorgan has over 25 years’ experience across the food and farming sector, including roles at Tate & Lyle, Tesco, GEA, and Map of Ag. He brings deep expertise in agriculture, dairy, and data, with a strong focus on turning complex technology into practical, commercial value for businesses. Passionate about innovation, Dorgan helps companies harness data and AI to drive better outcomes in feeding, animal health, sustainable production, and supply chain performance.
