About

Background

The project is developing the CareCompanion chatbot to support dairy and beef cattle farmers, as well as primary producers in the equine sector, in assessing animal welfare, using welfare indicators, and conducting self-monitoring of animal welfare. The project is carried out from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2028.

The Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia (Kpedu) serves as the project’s lead implementer. HAMK Tech is responsible for the actual implementation and testing of artificial intelligence and language model technology in the project.

Objective

The project will develop the CareCompanion chatbot to support dairy and beef cattle farmers as well as primary producers in the equine sector in assessing animal welfare, using welfare indicators, and conducting self-monitoring of animal welfare.

Supporting the welfare of cattle and horses on modern farms requires increasingly precise, up-to-date, and individualized monitoring. AI based on a language model enables quick and easy access to a large amount of data on animal behavior, health, and conditions. The language model utilizes a separate, limited knowledge base for each section, so its responses are based on current research and legislation.

The project will result in an end-user-tested, language model-based advisory chatbot that various agricultural sector stakeholders can use to request information via text, speech, and/or images. Users can ask the chatbot questions on three topics: general animal welfare information, measuring welfare, and legal and technical support information related to animal welfare.

Funding

The project is a development and innovation project under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP), co-funded by the EU. The Economic Development Centre has granted funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development for the 2023–2027 programming period.