attention while not disturbing daily routines of the cows that do not need attention or treatment. Sensor information can also be used at operational, tactical and strategic levels. Oper- ational level is the daily work that needs to be done. Tactical and strategic levels focus on the mid and long term. Sensors can help because they actually show what your cows are do- ing. If you decide to improve your feed management (diet composition, feeding time, push ups, etc) the sensors will tell you if your cows think it is an improvement too. Together with the milk production and reproduction results of your cows this gives you an answer whether the change in feed management was a true improvement.”
In the near future, can or will sensors replace the farmer in detecting sick or pregnant cows for example? “Well, the sensors can give an automatic alarm, such as: ‘This cow shows abnormal behaviour.’ This is a very helpful tool. But with proper cow observations, like monitoring tempera- ture, BCS, locomotion, hygiene, manure, rumen fill and milk production, currently available sensor technology will not of- ten point out a truly sick cow that you haven’t detected al- ready. Sensors can confirm your suspicion that a cow is strug- gling. Plus, they can give you a better impression of how sick a cow is and how long it has been having problems. Skilled people are still necessary to make the final call, but sensors add extra information to this process so they can make better decisions. Sick cows are a good example of a feedback
indicator: once the cow is sick, you are too late. With sensors we want to identify at-risk cows. This is a feed forward indica- tor because you have the opportunity to prevent the cow from becoming truly sick.”
How can sensors help to better understand and improve transition management? “The transition period is a very delicate period for the dairy cow. A perfect start after calving ensures a healthy lactation with good production and fertility. For example, it is impor- tant that the cow eats enough before calving and straight af- ter to be able to maintain the milk production at a high level. By monitoring eating behaviour we make sure there is a suffi- cient and stable feed intake. Measuring rumination is impor- tant to make sure there are no problems in the rumen that can lead to ketosis, acidosis, displaced abomasum (DA) and milk fever. Activity sensors are key as they measure how ac- tive the transition cow is. Reduced eating and/or ruminating makes the cow less active. And a less active cow means a po- tential health issue. These changes are subtle and difficult to observe by people. We already see that cows that develop ketosis spend less time eating and ruminating in the entire dry period. This change is consistent, but less than an hour per day. Sensors can track these changes and notify you which animals are at risk for developing ketosis. This gives you the option to treat this cow and help her to a good start of the lactation.”
▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 5, No. 4, 2018
Arnold Harbers is data analyst at Nedap and ac- tively involved in a large field study on cow sensors.
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