XGain Technical Notes: Computer vision for farm management and welfare monitoring of grazing cattle
Writer: Jérémie Haumont, Jarissa Maselyne & Anneleen De Visscher
Welfare of grazing cattle
Livestock production represents about 45% of the economic value of the entire agricultural sector in Europe [1] and in particular dairy production which represents more than 12% of total European agricultural produced tonnes [2]. Grazing land takes about 25% of the utilised agricultural area [3]. Despite its known benefits for cow welfare and cow health, a trend towards zero grazing of cattle and especially dairy cows has been observed in Europe [4].?
Animal welfare is mainly driven by the principle of the five freedoms, which indicate the fundamental rights of animals: (i) Freedom from hunger and thirst, (ii) freedom of discomfort, (iii) freedom of pain, injury or diseases, (iv) freedom to express natural behaviour, and (v) freedom from fear and distress [5]. A recent study reviewed several controlled studies to compare the welfare between dairy cows in indoor-housed and pasture-based systems [6].?
For example, lameness is a major issue for dairy cows and could cause low body condition scores pain and negative effects on the reproduction. It was suggested that pasture-based systems could reduce the risk on lameness due to softer, more comfortable walking and standing surfaces. Although, if the paths to the pasture are poorly maintained, the risk of lameness can be increased. Pasture-based system also showed lower risk of mastitis, an inflammation of the udder, related to severe pain and discomfort, lower milk production and higher antimicrobial use. This decrease was attributed to cleaner udders and less pathogen transmission between cows due to an increased resting area and more choice for a clean place. However, non-lactating dry dairy cows have augmented risk on the development of summer mastitis in pasture and there is also a higher risk of parasite infections for grazing cattle[6].?
Access to pasture also offers greater potential to express natural behaviour which mostly comprises of grazing, ruminating and resting. However, the time budget of cows also depends on the time of the day, the weather conditions and conditions of the pasture [6,7]. For example, on pasture animals are more exposed to extreme weather and might experience thermal discomfort if no adequate access to shaded areas is available. It is clear that animal welfare is influenced by many factors and a reliable welfare assessment of grazing cows would be very challenging as it would also require measurement over long periods of time and multifactorial analyses. Tough, this can be tackled with precision livestock farming technologies.
Precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies for grazing cattle
Innovations in precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies have come a long way and are increasingly being adopted by farmers across Europe. Cows and barns can be equipped with multiple sensors to monitor key welfare and health indicators such as activity, feed and water intake, milk production and quality, and diseases. Many of these systems only work indoor and are less suitable for application in pasture. Outdoor technologies today mainly use positioning systems, such as GPS and ultrawide band (UWB), accelerometers and identification systems based on radio frequency identification (RFID) [8,9]. Positioning systems allow to track the animals and quantify their activity. Advanced statistical models are used to classify behaviour and changing activity patterns of cows based on accelerometer data. Changing activity patterns and behaviour could be related to lameness and are also used to predict oestrus and insemination time which has a great economic importance. In pasture-based systems managing the battery life and organizing data transmission are difficult.? Also a high cost of these sensors might impact the use.
Recently, computer vision is increasingly applied to solve different challenges in monitoring grazing animals. Camera based application are versatile as they could handle the identification of individuals, but also record the localisation, behaviour pattern identification and tracking. Moreover, one camera allows monitoring multiple animals simultaneously, providing a cost-effective solution.?
The XGain Project
Effective deployment of vision-based monitoring of grazing livestock relies upon the ability of the technologies to balance the technical requirements such as power consumption and accuracy and robustness of the image processing with economic, social and environmental restrictions. To tackle this challenge ILVO participates in the XGain project that strives to enhance competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of remote farming, forestry and rural areas through holistic assessment of smart XG, last-mile and edge solutions’ gains. XGain aims to develop a knowledge facilitation tool (KFT) that will recommend a suited mixture of technologies for a broad range of applications to accelerate rural development. The project is funded by the European Commission (Grant ID: 101060294) to narrow the digital urban-rural digital divide. The consortium consists of 17 partners from 12 countries who foster high tech innovations and dissemination of the acquired knowledge during this three-year lasting project.?
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References
1. ???????? Why Is European Animal Production Important Today? Facts and Figures Available online: https://faostat3.fao.org/home/E (accessed on 11 December 2023).?
2. ???????? Augere-Granier, M.-L. The EU Dairy Sector Available online: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/630345/EPRS_BRI(2018)630345_EN.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2023).?
3. ???????? JRC Trends in the EU Agricultural Land within 2015-2030 Available online: https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2018-12/jrc113717.pdf (accessed on 12 December 2023).?
4. ???????? van den Pol-van Dasselaar, A.; Hennessy, D.; Isselstein, J. Grazing of Dairy Cows in Europe—An In-Depth Analysis Based on the Perception of Grassland Experts. Sustainability 2020, Vol. 12, Page 1098 2020, 12, 1098, doi:10.3390/SU12031098.?
5. ???????? The Five Freedoms: A History Lesson in Animal Care and Welfare - 4-H Animal Science Available online: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/an_animal_welfare_history_lesson_on_the_five_freedoms (accessed on 22 January 2024).?
6. ???????? Arnott, G.; Ferris, C.P.; O’connell, N.E. Review: Welfare of Dairy Cows in Continuously Housed and Pasture-Based Production Systems. Animal 2017, 11, 261–273, doi:10.1017/S1751731116001336.?
7. ???????? Aubé, L.; Mialon, M.M.; Mollaret, E.; Mounier, L.; Veissier, I.; de Boyer des Roches, A. Review: Assessment of Dairy Cow Welfare at Pasture: Measures Available, Gaps to Address, and Pathways to Development of Ad-Hoc Protocols. animal 2022, 16, 100597, doi:10.1016/J.ANIMAL.2022.100597.?
8. ???????? Hofstra, G.; Roelofs, J.; Rutter, S.M.; van Erp-van der Kooij, E.; de Vlieg, J. Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review. Dairy 2022, Vol. 3, Pages 776-788 2022, 3, 776–788, doi:10.3390/DAIRY3040053.?
9. ???????? Aquilani, C.; Confessore, A.; Bozzi, R.; Sirtori, F.; Pugliese, C. Review: Precision Livestock Farming Technologies in Pasture-Based Livestock Systems. Animal 2022, 16, doi:10.1016/j.animal.2021.100429.?