Kyle Peveto

Today, ranchers, dairy farmers and other livestock producers can track nearly every aspect of an animal’s life with sensors that can track vital signs as well as rumination and activity levels. These sensors can also be used to track milk production, feed intake and other biometrics that play a large role in the productivity and profitability of each farmer's herd.

In the fast-growing field of precision agriculture, researchers can take advantage of these biometrics to help producers improve productivity. LSU AgCenter assistant professor Shavahn Loux specializes in bioinformatics, a field where computer programming meets animal science.

Loux (pictured at left) has recently collected both genetic data and biometrics from large goat dairies where animals wear radio frequency identification tags to help keep track of each animal as they move through their day. Milk production is tracked as the goats are milked by rotary milking machines that can milk animals on a rotating platform. These tools help dairy producers understand how much feed individual animals eat and how much milk they produce.

“By being able to collect all this quantitative data, we can get really good insight into which genes are likely affecting milk production in dairy goats,” Loux said. “With that, we can start being able to identify some of these markers of interest for the dairy goat producers so they can better refine their breeding practices.”

Using information gleaned from the bioinformatic tools, producers can save money and time, Loux said.

“In a traditional system, it can take three to four years before producers have all the information they need to decide whether or not they want to keep any individual goat around and keep her genetics,” she said. “If we can figure out which of these goats is most valuable genetically at birth, then producers can save a lot of time and money by only raising the does with the best genetic potential.”

Loux uses these bioinformatic tools to help better understand health and reproductive issues with cattle, goats and sheep. Breakthroughs in animal health can often lead to new treatments for people, too.

“My overall goal is to use these bioinformatic technologies to learn more about clinical problems that people and animals are having,” she said. “The purpose of these technologies is to generate knowledge and therapies that help improve the health and productivity of the animals we study.”

Kyle Peveto is the editor of Louisiana Agriculture.

This article appears in the summer 2026 edition of Louisiana Agriculture.