ATELAGE : modelling to qualify work organisation in livestock farming systems

Abstract

Starting i) from contributions to work analysis by livestock research and ergonomics; ii) from 10 cases of livestock farms surveyed in the Northern Alps and debated by experts, we propose a model of work organisation in livestock farms as a system of activities that asso-ciates workers and tasks with respect to the constraints due to other economical activities and work/life options (holidays…). In reference to Knowledge Engineering, we formalise i) the concepts used (activities, relations between activities…) ; ii) a model of reasoning the data of a case (who does what, when, where) in order to describe and qualify forms of work organisation at the yearly level. The study of the different forms of daily work organisation is the basis for the qualification. The identification of the factors playing on these forms of organisation adds to our understanding of them.