Linking research and field work

This calculator helps farmers and rural health professionals identify the sub-clinical cost of facial eczema (FE) on the farm due to reduced milk production and body condition score loss.

We built this application in R Shiny working closely with veterinarians from VetEnt Research. This involved linking outputs from a research study on FE with on-farm stakeholders to support awareness of the impact of a subclinical disease.

The calculator allows the user to select different levels of FE extent in herds of different sizes to understand the disease’s effect on milk production and live weight.  Feed and milk values (such as $kg milk solids) can be adjusted past the default values, if desired, and assumptions are displayed alongside the calculations.

We designed the app for easy use from a mobile screen because on-farm apps are usually accessed from mobile devices.