Automated dairy cow monitoring for precision fertility management

UK dairy farmers face intensifying pressures: rising feed prices, rising carbon-reduction demands, worsening labour shortages, and major financial losses from delayed calving---estimated at £6 per cow per day. Fertility sits at the centre of both the problem and the solution: poor or rapidly changing body condition, lameness and undetected health deviations all erode conception rates, shorten productive lifespans, and inflate emissions and input costs. Yet fertility management remains dependent on infrequent, manual, low-precision observation, which is labour-intensive, subjective, unsafe for staff, and too slow to prevent avoidable losses. There is currently no widely adopted automated system that provides continuous, high-resolution data to support precision reproductive management.

This project aims to close that gap by evaluating the Agsenze HerdVision system---the first 2D/3D automated cow-monitoring camera capable of generating daily, non-invasive Body Condition Score (BCS) and mobility data from animals as they naturally visit a water trough.

Through on-farm trials at Keythorpe Farms and Adorian Farms, the project will test how continuous BCS and mobility data can be used to optimise fertility outcomes in real commercial conditions. Metrics will include insemination success, labour savings, avoided health escalations, veterinary interventions, cost reductions, usability, and environmental impact using recognised carbon-calculation tools.