Precision Dairy Technologies and the Development of Tacit Knowledge in Ontario Dairy Farmers

This article is concerned with the ways new technologies in the Canadian dairy industry impact the development of tacit knowledge in both the handlers and the female bovines working within these systems. The way dairy farmers interact with their herd is partially dictated by the housing system and the scale of operation. Dairy farmers develop two forms of tacit knowledge: barn-specific and industry-specific. The former refers to place-based tacit knowledge that the farmer develops in their own operation, which can be influenced by the housing system they have adopted and has to do more specifically with their particular herd, set-up, and milking systems. The latter refers to a more general form of tacit knowledge that can be broadly applied to the dairy industry, such as an understanding of bovine behaviours, disease mitigation and treatments, milk quality, feed knowledge, and the like. As the dairy industry integrates more precision technologies, some of these forms of tacit knowledge become obsolete. In each stage of industrialization, tacit knowledge shifts and develops differently on dairy farms. This article specifically looks at the different interactions that farmers have with their dairy cows in a tie-stall system, free-stall parlour milking system, and a free-stall robotic milking system, and the subsequent impact these systems have on the manifestation of tacit knowledge. The tacit knowledge of the female bovines that live in these systems is also privy to the effects of transitioning to new dairy systems. This article explores technological migration—the transition from the smaller scale to the larger scale—and the ways these migrations changed tacit knowledge among farmers and their animals. It also examines invisible labour on dairy farms, structures that keep these farms functioning, and tacit knowledge transfer during a period of rapid technological change in the Ontario dairy industry.