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Imprint
Collaborative project: The Smart Back - Establishment of a multimodal concept for the early detection of cow lameness - subproject A (MUKOLA)
Project
Project code: 281C203A19
Contract period: 01.02.2021
- 31.01.2024
Budget: 355,201 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research
Keywords: cattle, diagnostics, digital world, sensor technology, AI Artificial Intelligence, animal husbandry, data management, precision livestock farming, animal welfare
In 1990, the average annual milk yield of a cow in Germany was around 4,700 kg, today it is more than 8,000 kg. Average annual herd outputs of more than 11,000 kg milk per cow are no longer uncommon. With annual prevalence of 30-69%, hoof diseases are responsible for 80-90% of lameness in cattle and are among the most important problem areas in dairy farming despite the increasing quality of veterinary care. Monitoring individual animals would have the potential to detect changes early and to avoid unnecessary pain, suffering and damage to the animals. Our aim is to develop a software application for the early detection of lameness based on video-based and automated monitoring of changes in the back shape of dairy cows on their daily route to the milking parlor. Mobile user and expert apps are intended to make information about conspicuous animals available to the farmer or farm veterinarian in real time at any time. To implement this goal, our application project creates the necessary conditions by: Generation of large databases for the in-depth characterization of the physiological back forms of symptom-free cattle during their self-determined and uninfluenced movement. For the first time, the most modern sensor technologies and evaluation algorithms from human medicine are used on animals. It is only by comparing these reference databases that deviations in the back shapes of animals with symptoms can be defined. Automated video analysis of the back shape. In order to be able to automatically detect individual animals with complaints in the future, i.e. without the use of personnel or sensor technology on animals, existing software tools for video analysis are to be used at JWI, which are validated on the cow using the sensor technologies described above.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Animal health
