Novel animal-mounted sensor technology to improve efficiency and sustainability

In the UK, the average herd size and animal to stockman ratio is increasing within the beef and dairy sectors, thus the time devoted to monitoring of individual animals is reducing. In order to optimise the production efficiency of the UK livestock sector, there is a requirement for the development and use of cost-effective animal monitoring solutions to inform on the health and productive status of individual animals.
Dystocia is a considerable problem within beef and dairy systems causing the cow considerable pain. Prevalences of up to 22.6% in dairy cattle and 6% in beef cattle have been reported, with as many as 51% or dairy calvings and 34% of beef calvings requiring some level of assistance. The costs associated with mild and severe cases of dystocia in the dairy herds have been estimated as between £110 and £400 due to milk loss, increased days open, increased numbers of services, premature culling of loss of cows and lost calves. Timely intervention on difficult calving's can significantly reduce calf mortality, uterine infections post-partum and calving to conception interval compared with unassisted calving . Thus the development of methods to automatically predict calving onset and identify problematic calvings is important to facilitate timely and appropriate interventions.

A number of physiological and behavioural changes occur around calving which offer opportunities for the prediction of calving onset. Despite the possibility of using ability of hormonal changes as indicators to be used for prediction of calving, the variable accuracy of these, figures and need for invasive nature of blood sampling to detect changes in hormones limits its usefulness as a method of automatic dystocia prediction. Reductions in body temperature occur on the day of calving compared with 2-3 days before calving but high variations in temperature change between individual animals and possible impacts of pyrexia limit the predictive power of temperature alone.

The non-invasive nature of behavioural observations and the availability of a number of sensors on the market or near to market designed to monitor different elements of cattle behaviour provides opportunities for translation of current behavioural and technology validation research into a multi-sensor platform for the prediction of calving onset and calving difficulties. Lying and standing behaviour, eating and rumination patterns, social behaviour and tail raising events are known to change during the 24 hours prior to calving This study will assist in translating a range of behavioural research and technical knowledge into a potential early warning system for calving and dystocia. It will assess a number of technologies on the market or near-to-market for related and other uses (e.g. detection of oestrus) for their capabilities in the detection of calving and dystocia. The use of combined technologies is likely to result in increased accuracy of decision making algorithms and will therefore provide added value to the end user. The availability of early detection and alerts for parturition/dystocia will enable farmers to intervene in a timely manner to prevent the losses associated with dystocia, thus optimising the economic and production efficiency of their business. The prevention of pain and suffering for both the dam and calf aligns clearly with the BBSRC animal welfare strategies. The development of appropriate early warning systems is key to maximising the sustainability of UK and global agriculture.

The following areas will benefit from the proposed research:

1. UK beef and dairy producers
a. The proposed system will allow farmers to identify issues with calving, and optimise interventions, thereby reducing the risk of dystocia and the related economic losses. This will allow for informed interventions to increase the overall efficiency of their production unit.
b. As the UK commercial partners will have first access to the technology they will be the first to benefit. Reducing farm costs should increase the competitiveness of the UK dairy (a nationally important current issue) and beef industry and make their products more competitive against foreign competitors.

2. The UK
a. The technological systems proposed will enhance the economic efficiency of the UK beef and dairy sector, thus increasing the competitiveness over imported products and guaranteeing the sustainability of the UK beef and dairy industry.
b. Reduced production costs and efficient production methods by reducing dam health risk and increasing percentage of successful calvings, could enhance the reputation of UK beef and dairy products and increase the value of UK exports.
c. There will be a reduced environmental footprint from more efficient production, improved health and welfare, reduced losses (yields and mortality) and optimal use of farm resources.
d. Greenhouse gas output will be reduced through more efficient production.
e. Increasing the profitability of the UK beef and dairy sectors will lead to social benefits including enhanced rural employment.

3. Animal welfare
a. Increased monitoring of individual animals will allow for more timely health interventions. Therefore, the use of this system will allow for calving difficulties to be detected sooner, thus reducing losses (through reduced productivity of cows, calf mortality), reduced suffering, improved health and welfare of individual animals