Tag Archives: accelerometer.

223-230 E. Kokin,, J. Praks, I. Veermäe, V. Poikalainen and M. Vallas
IceTag3D™ accelerometric device in cattle lameness detection
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IceTag3D™ accelerometric device in cattle lameness detection

E. Kokin¹,*, J. Praks², I. Veermäe², V. Poikalainen² and M. Vallas²

¹Institute of Technology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 56, EE51014 Tartu, Estonia; *Correspondence: eugen.kokin@emu.ee 2Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, EE51014 Tartu, Estonia

Abstract:

The objective of the pilot study was to evaluate the possibility of using IceTag3D™ accelerometric device for the early detection of lame cows in dairy herd. The measurements were carried out in the experimental cowshed of Estonian University of Life Sciences in the free-stall section with milking parlour. The time the cow spent lying and standing, number of lying bouts, step count and the motion index of 33 dairy cows (14 lame and 19 sound cows) was registered during 15 days period. The measurements confirmed that the lame cows stand and move less than sound animals. As the same trend was in force for older cows it was impossible to differentiate the influence of lameness and age. To clarify the inequality in activity between lame and sound rear legs both legs of lame cows were equipped with loggers (eight cows). Great difference in recordings of diseased and healthy leg lying bouts (ratio 2.47) indicates that this parameter may be one possibility to identify leg disorders. However, further investigations are needed to synchronize video- and IceTag recordings and identify threshold values.

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