The Use of an Activity Monitoring System for the Early Detection of Health Disorders in Young Bulls

The Use of an Activity Monitoring System for the Early Detection of Health Disorders in Young Bulls

By Mohammed Anouar Belaid, Maria Rodriguez-Prado, Eric Chevaux, Sergio Calsamiglia

Published on 05/11/2019

In large, intensive beef production systems, the identification of sick animals can be difficult. Activity monitors may be able to help identify sick cattle earlier based on behavior changes. In this study, sick bulls started to behave differently from healthy bulls at least 10 days before the appearance of clinical signs. A prediction model identified bulls at risk of becoming sick nine days before the visual diagnosis based on: time at the feed bunk; time lying down; and frequency of lying bouts.

Read more to see how the authors suggest activity monitoring systems may help identify cattle at risk of becoming sick.