# Prediction of Herd Life in Dairy Cows Using Multi-Head Attention Transformers

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.21034 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.21034/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 26 Nov 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [A Survey of Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.04554/) (2021)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Applications of Transformers for Deep Learning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.07303/) (2023)
- [Transformers in Time-series Analysis: A Tutorial](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01138/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Dairy farmers should decide to keep or cull a cow based on an objective assessment of her likely performance in the herd. For this purpose, farmers need to identify more resilient cows, which can cope better with farm conditions and complete more lactations. This decision-making process is inherently complex, with significant environmental and economic implications. In this study, we develop an AI-driven model to predict cow longevity using historical multivariate time-series data recorded from birth. Leveraging advanced AI techniques, specifically Multi-Head Attention Transformers, we analysed approximately 780,000 records from 19,000 unique cows across 7 farms in Australia. The results demonstrate that our model achieves an overall determination coefficient of 83% in predicting herd life across the studied farms, highlighting its potential for practical application in dairy herd management.