THECURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART IN ANIMAL FARMING PRACTICE IS SOMEWHAT OPPORTUNISTIC AND NON-UNIFORM IN REGARD TO THE USE OF SENSORS AND DIRECT OBSERVATION TO MONITOR ANIMAL HEALTH AND FARM EFFICIENCY. IN FACT,NO CURRENT CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS (CPS) OR CLOSED-LOOP METHODOLOGIES EXIST TO MONITOR AND CONTROL FARM PRODUCTIVITY OF THE ENTIRE HERD WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY MONITORING THE WELL-BEINGOF INDIVIDUAL ANIMALS WITHIN THEHERD IN REAL-TIME. WE BELIEVE THIS LIMITS THE PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY OF THE FARM, ONLY ENSURES THE WELL-BEING OF THE AVERAGE ANIMAL INTHE HERD, AND OPENS THE POSSIBILITY OF ACCIDENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS. PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE PROVIDES INTENSIFIED, DATA-DRIVEN MANAGEMENT OF BOTH THE INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL AND THE COMBINED HERD IN AREAS OF NUTRITION, HEALTH, PRODUCTIVITY, AND EFFICIENCY TO ADDRESS THESE LIMITATIONS. USING TRANS-DISCIPLINARY EXPERTISE, THIS 3-YEARPROJECT WILL CREATE A GENERIC CPS FOR PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE APPLICABLE TO ASSIST IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ANY TYPE OF ANIMAL FARM. INDIVIDUAL DAIRY COWS IN CONJUNCTION WITH A DAIRY HERD WITHIN A FARM WILL BE UTILIZED AS A TESTBED FOR CPS DEVELOPMENT TO PROVE FEASIBILITY. TOOLS FOR THE DESIGN OF SUCH A SYSTEM FOR A PARTICULAR FARM WILL BE GENERATED ALONG WITH PROTOTYPES FOR THECOMPONENTS OF A DAIRY FARM TO CREATE A CPS FOR SUSTAINABLE PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE. THE PROPOSED INTEGRATED SYSTEM WILL IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE US DAIRY INDUSTRY BY ADDRESSING KEY INEFFICIENCIES IN ANIMAL METABOLISM AND HEALTH, WHICH ARE THE PRIMARY DRIVERS OF OVERALL FARM EFFICIENCY. THIS NEW SYSTEM WILL ALSO SERVE AS AN EXEMPLAR FOR THE UTILITY OF CPS IN OTHER ANIMAL AGRICULTURE APPLICATIONS. THIS PROGRAM WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE ENGINEERING OF CPS BY PROVIDING A REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE FOR PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE THAT APPLIES TO ANY HERD OF ANIMALS (E.G, COWS, GOATS, CHICKENS, FISH). IT ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO THE TECHNOLOGY OF CPS BECAUSE NOVEL AND TRUSTED PRINCIPLES OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROCESSES WILL BE USED TO DESIGN AND INTEGRATE COMPONENTS OF THE DAIRY CPS.THERE IS A PERSISTENT NEED TO MITIGATE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION ON NON-RENEWABLE AND RENEWABLE RESOURCES. DERIVATIVE BENEFITS OF THIS WORK WILL SATISFY THIS NEED THROUGH THE AVAILABILITY OF A GENERIC CPS FOR PRECISION ANIMAL AGRICULTURE THAT CAN BE APPLIED ACROSS THE FARMING INDUSTRY. THIS NEW CPS WILL ALLOW FOR EFFICIENT FEEDING AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT TO OPTIMIZE MILK PRODUCTION WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY REDUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF THE US DAIRY INDUSTRY. IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND/OR THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR FARMERS AND ANIMALS WILL HAVE AN ENORMOUS SOCIETAL BENEFIT WITH GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS. FURTHER, THIS GRANT WILL PROVIDE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR 4 PHD STUDENTS AND 2 MS STUDENT. FOUR STUDENTS WILL BE TRAINED AS ENGINEERS AND TWO WILL BE TRAINED ASANIMAL SCIENTISTS. IN ADDITION, THE TEAM WILL USE THE CONCEPT OF "THE CONNECTED COW" IN OUTREACH TO K-12 CHILDREN AT SCIENCE CAMPS IN BOTH WEST LAFAYETTE AND BLACKSBURG AS PART OF EXISTING PROGRAMS TO EXCITE OUR LARGELY AGRARIAN COMMUNITIES ABOUT STEM. LASTLY, WE PLAN TO EXPOSE THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF THIS CPS RESEARCH TO PRACTITIONERS AND RESEARCHERS WITH A NOVEL WORKSHOP FORMAT THAT INCLUDES A LIVE HACK-A-THON.