Precision livestock tools give dairy sector a boost

Cow Health Monitor project highlights how new technology can improve health, fertility and production, while reducing more invasive practices – but more work is needed

The dairy industry is increasingly adopting precision livestock farming (PLF) tools and many commercial sensors are available which focus on boosting health, fertility and production.

Early detection of diseases and disorders in cattle, such as ketosis, acidosis and lameness, via PLF tools allows earlier decisions on appropriate interventions and early detection often occurs prior to clinical symptoms, therefore reducing the need for antibiotic intervention.

Cow Health Monitor, a project at SRUC Dairy Research and Innovation Centre, investigated early detection of diseases in lactating dairy cattle through real-time, animal-mounted and in-line sensors.

The project involved SRUC, Afimilk, Fullwood Packo and AHDB Dairy and looked to provide a robust decision support system for metabolic disease detection at pre-clinical stages by identifying early warning markers of the subsequent clinical disease.

Neck-mounted accelerometers were used to determine behavioural signatures associated with eating, ruminating and lameness.

Thermal imaging was used to detect elevated temperatures associated with local inflammation (e.g. mastitis) and pyrexia (fever), indicative of disease, and in-line milk sensors were used to measure real-time acetone levels in milk headspace.

Milk acetone concentration was used as a proxy for ketosis to indicate the energy balance of the animal.

The project showed that through combinations of sensors, particularly accelerometer data and milk measurements from the automatic milking system, diseases like mastitis could be detected three to five days earlier than by a stockperson alone.

Identifying mastitis earlier meant that it could be eliminated using non-antibiotic approaches.

Precision livestock tools, such as collars, boluses or thermal imaging, allow for less invasive animal health monitoring than many standard practices.

Use of indwelling boluses to continuously monitor pH provides a consistent reading from one location and provides data over a longer time period.

One of the continuing issues faced by PLF tools is overcoming challenges associated with the farm environment.

For example, thermal imaging is an

important non-invasive tool for determining health and welfare. It can assist in the identification and diagnosis of inflammation, infection and injury and can assess heat, cold and psychological stress.

Varying levels of progress have been made using thermal imaging in livestock.

SRUC have shown that with thermal imaging, digital dermatitis is detectable in cattle, increased heel temperature can indicate lameness and mastitis may be detectable.

However, further work is needed to overcome environmental challenges (mud, hair, faeces etc) and air temperature, which affect image quality and sensitivity.

In the future, with further work, a wider range of PLF tools may become a standard part of everyday farm life, but more work is needed to refine their use on farm.

Precision farming tools are becoming increasingly important in the dairy sector, helping to improve herd health, fertility and production.