Predicting farrowing of sows housed in crates and pens using accelerometers and CUSUM charts

Pastell, Matti; Hietaoja, Juha; Yun, Je Moon; Tiusanen, Johannes; Valros, Anna

doi:10.1016/j.compag.2016.06.009

Cited by 29 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Instead, we decided to mainly evaluate the performance of the algorithm on the basis of the duration between the time when an alarm was generated and the onset of farrowing, similar to Traulsen et al [17] and on the basis of the associated distribution of alarms. In our opinion, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity as measures of algorithm performance are difficult to interpret when it comes to farrowing prediction, especially when different authors use various definitions of "true positive" alarms [13,14,23] and, accordingly, there is no consensus at what time before farrowing "true positive" alarm occurs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This alarm could be interpreted as an indication that nest-building behaviour had ending. Contrary to Manteuffel et al [23] and Pastell et al [14] we decided not to use accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity as measures of performance of the algorithm that was developed in this research. Instead, we decided to mainly evaluate the performance of the algorithm on the basis of the duration between the time when an alarm was generated and the onset of farrowing, similar to Traulsen et al [17] and on the basis of the associated distribution of alarms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then, changes in dynamics of the activity of sows were detected as an increased and decreased trend in acceleration data. Such an individual modeling approach, in which models adapt to the activity of individuals, was also applied for prediction of farrowing in research by Pastell et al [14], Traulsen et al [17], and Manteuffel et al [23], whereas in research by Oczak et al [13], Oliviero et al [16], and Cornou and Kristensen [30] group level modeling was applied. Individual modeling of sows' activity for farrowing prediction has an advantage, because the performance of such models depends on similarity in dynamics of sows' activity and is independent from baseline activity level of the animals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The activity level of a sow that builds a nest before farrowing increases due to hormonal changes and the presence of external stimuli [7,13,14]. This increase in activity level can be automatically detected with sensor technology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of Sows’ Activity Housed in Farrowing Pens with Possibility of Temporary Crating might Indicate the Time When Sows Should be Confined in a Crate before the Onset of Farrowing

Oczak

Maschat

Baumgartner

2019

Animals

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Simple Summary: In natural conditions, before the onset of farrowing, sows build a nest mainly to protect piglets from adverse weather conditions and predators. In modern commercial farms nest-building behaviour is limited, because, during the period of nest building, sows are confined in a farrowing crate. This has a negative effect on sow welfare. Recently, the concept of temporary crating has been introduced to achieve a compromise between the needs of the sow and her piglets. According to this concept, sows could be kept out of the crate at the time of prenatal nest-building behaviour and after the critical period of piglets' life. In this study, we developed a method to monitor sows' behaviour on the basis of accelerometer data. The developed monitoring method provides the following two types of alarms: A "first-stage" alarm that indicates the beginning of nest-building behaviour, with a median of 8 h 51 min before the onset of farrowing and a "second-stage" alarm that indicates the end of nest-building behaviour with a median of 2 h 3 min before the onset of farrowing. On the basis of these two types of alarms a farmer can make a decision when to provide adequate nest-building material and when to confine a sow in a crate for protection of the piglets' welfare. Abstract: One way to reduce the negative impact of farrowing crates on sow welfare is to limit confinement of sows from the onset of farrowing until the end of the critical period of piglets' life a few days after farrowing. In order to provide an indication of the time when sows should be confined in crates, ear tag-based acceleration data was modeled to provide the following two types of alarms: A "first-stage" alarm that indicates the beginning of nest-building behaviour, and a "second-stage" alarm that indicates the ending of the nest-building behaviour. In total, 53 sows were included in the experiment. Each sow had an ear tag with an accelerometer sensor mounted on the ear. Acceleration data were modeled with the Kalman filtering and fixed interval smoothing (KALMSMO) algorithm. It was possible to predict farrowing on the basis of increased activity in the validation dataset with a median of 8 h 51 min before the onset of farrowing. Alarms that indicated the need for confinement of the sow in a crate were generated with a median of 2 h 3 min before the onset of farrowing. These results suggest that the developed model should be sufficient to provide early warning of approaching farrowing and secondary alarm indicating the need to confine a sow in a crate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of Sows’ Activity Housed in Farrowing Pens with Possibility of Temporary Crating might Indicate the Time When Sows Should be Confined in a Crate before the Onset of Farrowing

Oczak

Maschat

Baumgartner

2019

Animals

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“…Near-continuous observation of preparturient mares is extremely labour-intensive, and time requirements would be markedly reduced with automated monitoring systems. In cattle, automated monitoring and alert systems are used for oestrous detection (Chanvallon et al, 2014;Pennington, Albright, & Callahan, 1986;Roelofs, van Eerdenburg, Soede, & Kemp, 2005) and health management (Borchers, Chang, Tsai, Wadsworth, & Bewley, 2016;Müller & Schrader, 2003) and are also increasingly advocated for monitoring of cows before calving (Krieger et al, 2017;Marchesi et al, 2013;Ouellet et al, 2016). Monitoring devices in cattle are often made for long-term recordings and are fixed permanently on the animal whereas for birth alert, pedometers (Nishimura et al, 2017;Titler et al, 2015) or intravaginal sensors (Palombi et al, 2013) are used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of the time of foaling by accelerometer technique in horses (Equus caballus)—a pilot study

Hartmann

Lidauer²,

Aurich

et al. 2018

Reprod Domestic Animals

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Observation of preparturient mares is labour-intensive and time requirements would be reduced with automated monitoring systems. Recently, small-size accelerometers have become available. We followed the hypothesis that increased restlessness in mares shortly before the expulsive stage of labour can be detected with such accelerometers. Accelerometers were attached medioventrally to the halter of eight late pregnant mares. To evaluate an influence of accelerometer position, in one mare two additional accelerometers were attached close to the mandibular and atlanto-occipital joints. Accelerometers were programmed to send 600 signals/min (10 Hz). Signals were recorded continuously and, for evaluation, four intervals of 30-min duration on day 4 before foaling and the last 2 hr before rupture of the allantochorion at foaling were selected. Signal detection was influenced by position of the accelerometer on the mares' halter. The highest signal detection rate was reached with the accelerometer in the lateral and dorsal position but differences of accelerations measured by the system differed neither between sensor positions nor between time intervals 4 days before foaling. Differences of accelerations increased from 120 min before foaling until birth of the foal (p < 0.001) and this increase was most pronounced during the last 30-20 min before birth of the foal (p < 0.001). Technical improvements and a foaling specific algorithm are required to improve the accuracy to predict foaling. Even if this preliminary study included only a small number of mares, results demonstrate that accelerometers could be an important component of birth alert systems in horses in the future.

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Can accelerometer ear tags identify behavioural changes in sheep associated with parturition?

Fogarty

Swain

Cronin

et al. 2020

Animal Reproduction Science

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Predicting farrowing of sows housed in crates and pens using accelerometers and CUSUM charts

Cited by 29 publications

References 25 publications

Dynamics of Sows’ Activity Housed in Farrowing Pens with Possibility of Temporary Crating might Indicate the Time When Sows Should be Confined in a Crate before the Onset of Farrowing

Dynamics of Sows’ Activity Housed in Farrowing Pens with Possibility of Temporary Crating might Indicate the Time When Sows Should be Confined in a Crate before the Onset of Farrowing

Detection of the time of foaling by accelerometer technique in horses (Equus caballus)—a pilot study

Can accelerometer ear tags identify behavioural changes in sheep associated with parturition?

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