Effects of cow reproductive status, parity and lactation stage on behaviour and heavy breathing indications of a commercial accelerometer during hot weather conditions

Abstract

Heat stress presents one of the most urgent challenges to modern dairy farming, having major detrimental impacts on cow welfare, health, and production. Understanding the effect of cow factors (reproductive status, parity, and lactation stage) on the physiological and behavioural response to hot weather conditions is essential for the accurate detection and practical application of heat mitigation strategies. To study this, collars with commercial accelerometer-based sensors were fitted on 48 lactation dairy cows to record behaviour and heavy breathing from late spring to late summer. The temperature-humidity index (THI) was calculated from measurements of 8 barn sensors. We found that, above a THI of 84, cows in advanced pregnancy (>90 days) spent more time breathing heavily and less time eating and in low activity than other cows, while cows in early pregnancy (≤90 days) spent less time breathing heavily, more time eating and in low activity. Cows with 3+ lactations showed less time breathing heavily and in high activity and more time ruminating and in low activity than cows with fewer lactations. Although lactation stage interacted significantly with THI on time spent breathing heavily, ruminating, eating, and in low activity, there was no clear indication at which lactation stage cows were more sensitive to heat. These findings show that cow factors affect the cow’s physiological and behavioural response to heat, which could be used to provide group-specific heat abatement strategies, thereby improving heat stress management.

A CFD Methodology for the Modelling of Animal Thermal Welfare in Hybrid Ventilated Livestock Buildings

“…The detection of heavy breathing is performed using an accelerometer that estimates the instantaneous respiration rate. An animal is considered in a state of heavy breathing whenever the respiration rate exceeds the threshold of 80 bpm [54], which corresponds to the transition between mild and moderate heat stress [55]. The data acquisition system provides, on a daily basis, the total number of minutes on average in which cows are in heavy breathing.…”

“…This parameter is expressed in min/day and it is averaged over the total number of animals (112 cows). This index is referred to as heavy breathing duration (HBD), and it is already extensively used to analyse the daily intensity of heat stress [54,56]. In the CerZoo barn, the data history of HBD is available from the beginning of 2022 until the end of 2023.…”

Digital and Precision Technologies in Dairy Cattle Farming: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Furthermore, global consumption of animal products has been leveling off in first-world countries but is increasing rapidly in developing countries, driving the need to increase agricultural production and adopt technological innovations, including precision farming [ 4 ]. Other research has explored technologies such as collars with accelerometer-based sensors to record behaviors and breathing [ 5 ], developing machine learning solutions to monitor behavioral and physiological changes [ 6 ], as well as nose device electronic systems for the detection of volatile organic compounds [ 7 ].…”