Background of ICRAS

1. The idea of ICRAS was first mooted in 2009 by Dr.Siti Salmiyah who was then
the Dairy Section head of DVS.
2. ICRAS was developed mainly for small scale dairy farms (20-30 herd size),
which comprises around 90% of the total dairy farmers. Majority of them do not
posses any proper recording system.
3. The idea was presented in a series of gatherings between dairy farmers and
consultants known as " Dairy Core Team". This program was an initiative
between DVS and Dutch Lady, Malaysia.
4. The system requirements were gathered from small scale dairy farmers and
consultants from all over Malaysia during the series of Dairy Core Team
meetings.
5. The objectives of ICRAS were identified as such:

To encourage or educate small scale farmers to have a recording system.

To provide a simple computerized recording system which would
highlight key indicators which would help the farmers to make decisions.
To concentrate in the key areas of production, fertility and health.
To provide a computerized system which emphasizes in simplicity, cost
effectiveness and ...

6. ICRAS was then finalized based on the advice of Ir. AP (Bram) Wouters, the lead
consultant of Dutch Lady,Malaysia for the Dairy Core Team program.
7. Ir. AP (Bram) Wouters is from the Animal Sciences Group (ASG), Wageningen
UR (University & Research centre), Netherlands. His expertise includes Tropical
Agriculture, Farm and Captive Animals, Animal Husbandry, Grasslands, Animal
Nutrition and Feeding, Agriculture in the Netherlands and Agro-industrial Chains.
8. ICRAS was also further acknowledged by Mr. Sybren Attema of
FrieslandCampina, Vietnam
9. The full working version of Individual Cow Recording and Analysis System
(ICRAS) was first introduced in the year of 2010 during the Dairy Core
Meeting/Workgroup.
10. A research article on ICRAS was then published in the International Journal of
Computer Applications.
Vickneswaran Jeyabalan. Article:Individual Cow Recording and Analysis
System for Small Scale Dairy Farmers in Malaysia. International Journal of

Computer Applications 8(11):3338, October 2010. Published By Foundation of

Computer Science.
11. This paper has since been refereed in few researches:

The Sustainable Conditions and Support System for Bangladesh

Dairy Sector under the Global Competition Structure: Case studies on
the main dairy farming areas in Bangladesh by MD. MONJURUL
HOQUE
A Thesis Submitted to the United Graduate School of Agricultural
Sciences Kagoshima University, Japan. In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirement for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN
AGRICULTURE, Sept 2013

The Use of Farm Information Systems among Grasscutter Farmers in

Ga-South Municipality and Awutu-Senya District in Ghana by Justice
G. Djokoto Computer and Information Science ISSN 1913-8989 (Print)
ISSN 1913-8997 (Online) Copyright Canadian Center of Science and
Education Department of Agribusiness, Central Business School, Central
University College P. O. Box DS 2310, Dansoman, Accra, Ghana

Media Exposure
Utusan Online
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?
y=2012&dt=0206&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Agrobiz&pg=ag_03.htm
Kosmo
http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?
y=2011&dt=1216&pub=Kosmo&sec=Varia&pg=va_01.htm
Bernama
http://my.news.yahoo.com/keep-feed-costs-2-124708591.html