Cattle Hoof Monitor
Lameness in dairy cows is an industry-wide issue, effecting farmers' bottom lines and cow welfare, leading to production inefficiencies and increased carbon emission per litre of milk produced. Considered to be the second only to mastitis in cost to the national dairy herd (£53.5 million per year (Royal Veterinary College, 2022)) and the third most common cause of cow cull, with an estimated 22% of all English and Britishdairy cows being lame at any given time, and 55% being lame at some point in the year (Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, 2020); with 1.07million dairy cows in England in 2021 and approximately 800,000 across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (AHDB, 2022) the scale of the welfare issue this represents is immediately appreciable.
To be treated, lameness must first be detected and diagnosed; however, depending on the particular cause of lameness, decreases in milk yields may begin up to four months before lameness visibly presents due to DMI intake suppression (DAERA, 2021), leading to financial losses beyond the cost of treatment. NADIS (2021) estimates the average cost of lameness as £178 per case, with 25% of this attributable to reduced milk yield, prolonged calving interval, premature culling and treatment.
Given the welfare and cost implications of lameness, English and UK dairy farmers are proactive in reducing and monitoring lameness, with mobility scoring, foot-bathing and regular foot-trimming commonplace. Accelerometer-based precision livestock farming (PLF) tech such as collars, anklets and smart boli have enabled farmers to remotely monitor lameness via movement profiles with more objectivity than a manual mobility score. However, these products are rarely able to reliably detect which foot requires treatment. "Second-generation" technologies utilising camera technologies and AI (Cattle Eye, Herd Vision) are appearing on the market, operating by visually monitoring and analysing cow gait.
This project will develop an initial proof of concept design for an affordable lameness and scaleable detection system, utilising thermal and visible light imagery and AI analysis. The system will be able to detect cases of lameness very early and in individual feet, allowing for extremely early, targeted treatment. Rather than detecting changes in gait, the system will detect localised increases in body (foot) temperature and indicative of inflammation and pain. This will allow extremely early inspection and/or intervention with anti-inflammatory drugs, reducing the cost of treatment and loss of production, making for a more productive, higher-welfare and lower-carbon herd.