Project
Smart use of sensor data to manage heat stress, health and productivity of dairy cows
By Lianzhe Shi
Dairy cow behaviour could be an indicator for cow health and welfare, and help optimising farm management. Sensors can be used to record and monitor behaviour of dairy cows. Combining with accurate quantifying behavioural pattern of dairy cows, sensors can help farmers detect disease at an early stage and timely optimise management.
This project aims at better understanding the behaviour of dairy cows via defining 24-hour behavioural patterns of individual dairy cows and complete herds by accelerometer data. The associations between behavioural patterns and health, welfare and productivity can help optimizing management and increasing animal welfare for dairy herds and individuals.
The project consists of two complementary work packages:
- First, quantifying 24-hour behavioural patterns of dairy herds
- Second, quantifying 24-hour behavioural patterns of individual dairy cows.
The two work packages each include 2 studies, and will be addressed by analysis of accelerometer and milk production data collected at 8 commercial dairy farms.
In work package 1, study 1 will focus on analysing accelerometer data of herds to quantify 24-hour behavioural patterns of herd. In study 2, herd behavioural patterns will sequentially be related with heat stress and productivity. In work package 2, 24-hour behavioural patterns of individual cows will be quantified in study 3 and evaluated in relation to diseases, individual productivity and stressors in study 4.
