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Data Modeling for Database Design in Production and Health Monitoring Systems for Dairy Herds

Franoise Lescourret, M. Genest, J. Barnouin, Michelle Chassagne and B. Faye

Laboratoire d'Ecopathologie, lnstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Centre de Clermont-Ferrand-Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France

Monitoring systems, increasingly used in dairy herds, require carefully designed databases. Database design involves modeling, which is generally not treated in papers dealing with such monitoring systems. We present general rules of data modeling based on the analysis of the semantic structure of information and their application to the construction of five basic data models. Such models are not database structures; a single model can be translated into different database structures. Modeling choices related to utilization requirements are explained. The models provide a sound basis for database schemes that prevent redundancy and support various applications in production and health monitoring systems for dairy herds and refer to information sets at either the cow or the farm level, including unique life history features, individual morbidity, production and reproduction performance, herd management systems, and feeding practices. The efficiency of the models is illustrated by their contribution to a real database; emphasis is on their integration into a model, on the ease of translation into relational database tables, and on subsequent database performance.