**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** REPLACEMENT HEIFERS ACCOUNT FOR APPROXIMATELY 20% OF THE ANNUAL COST ON DAIRY FARMS. AS SUCH, STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE EARLY SELECTION OF REPLACEMENT HEIFERS IS CRUCIAL FOR THE ECONOMIC SUCCESS OF DAIRY OPERATIONS. CURRENTLY, HEIFERS ARE SELECTED BASED ON PEDIGREE OR GENOMIC INFORMATION. HOWEVER, ESTIMATED GENETIC MERIT IS AN INCOMPLETE PREDICTOR OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR OTHER FACTORS SUCH AS ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO PROVIDE A HIGH-THROUGHPUT PHENOTYPING PLATFORM USING COMPUTER VISION SYSTEMS TO INTEGRATE PHENOTYPES FROM BIOMETRIC BODY MEASUREMENTS (BBM) AND MAMMARY GLAND (MG) DEVELOPMENT. SUCH PHENOTYPES WILL BE COMBINED WITH GENOMIC INFORMATION TO PROVIDE EARLIER AND MORE ACCURATE PREDICTION OF THEIR FUTURE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ARE: 1) FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND FINE-TUNING OF AN RFID-CAMERA SYSTEM FOR INDIVIDUAL IMAGE-BASED BODY WEIGHT AND BBM PREDICTION FOR GROWTH CURVE MODELING OF ELITE FEMALE REPLACEMENT CALVES; 2) DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED COMPUTER VISION SYSTEM TO EXTRACT MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ULTRASOUND IMAGES FROM MAMMARY GLAND; 3) COMBINE BBM, ASSESSMENT OF MG DEVELOPMENT, AND GROWTH CURVE PARAMETERS, TOGETHER WITH GENOMIC INFORMATION TO PREDICT REPRODUCTIVE AND PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF 1ST LACTATION COWS. THE TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE GENERATED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ALLOW A BETTER MONITORING OF DAIRY CALF DEVELOPMENT, PROVIDING AN IMPORTANT TOOL FOR OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO IMPROVE DECISION-MAKING REGARDING STRATEGIC HEIFER REPLACEMENT AND IMPROVE PRODUCTIVE LIFE PERFORMANCE OF DAIRY COWS. IN ADDITION, THE COMPUTER VISION SYSTEM PROPOSED HEREIN COULD BE USED ALSO AS A TOOL FOR RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER AREAS OF DAIRY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES, SUCH AS PHYSIOLOGY, NUTRITION, WELFARE, AND HEALTH.