Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review

Several studies have suggested that precision livestock farming (PLF) is a useful tool for animal welfare management and assessment. Location, posture and movement of an individual are key elements in identifying the animal and recording its behaviour. Currently, multiple technologies are available...

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Main Authors: Gerben Hofstra, Judith Roelofs, Steven Mark Rutter, Elaine van Erp-van der Kooij, Jakob de Vlieg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-10-01
Series:Dairy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2624-862X/3/4/53
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author Gerben Hofstra
Judith Roelofs
Steven Mark Rutter
Elaine van Erp-van der Kooij
Jakob de Vlieg
author_facet Gerben Hofstra
Judith Roelofs
Steven Mark Rutter
Elaine van Erp-van der Kooij
Jakob de Vlieg
author_sort Gerben Hofstra
collection DOAJ
description Several studies have suggested that precision livestock farming (PLF) is a useful tool for animal welfare management and assessment. Location, posture and movement of an individual are key elements in identifying the animal and recording its behaviour. Currently, multiple technologies are available for automated monitoring of the location of individual animals, ranging from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to ultra-wideband (UWB), RFID, wireless sensor networks (WSN) and even computer vision. These techniques and developments all yield potential to manage and assess animal welfare, but also have their constraints, such as range and accuracy. Combining sensors such as accelerometers with any location determining technique into a sensor fusion system can give more detailed information on the individual cow, achieving an even more reliable and accurate indication of animal welfare. We conclude that location systems are a promising approach to determining animal welfare, especially when applied in conjunction with additional sensors, but additional research focused on the use of technology in animal welfare monitoring is needed.
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spelling doaj.art-ae4500af9b3843d99771acf5d9db7be62023-11-24T14:13:36ZengMDPI AGDairy2624-862X2022-10-013477678810.3390/dairy3040053Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A ReviewGerben Hofstra0Judith Roelofs1Steven Mark Rutter2Elaine van Erp-van der Kooij3Jakob de Vlieg4Applied Biology Department, HAS University of Applied Sciences, Onderwijsboulevard 221, 5223 DE ’s-Hertogenbosch, The NetherlandsAnimal Husbandry Department, HAS University of Applied Sciences, Onderwijsboulevard 221, 5223 DE ’s-Hertogenbosch, The NetherlandsDepartment of Animal Health, Behaviour and Welfare, Harper Adams University, Edgmond, Newport TF10 8NB, UKAnimal Husbandry Department, HAS University of Applied Sciences, Onderwijsboulevard 221, 5223 DE ’s-Hertogenbosch, The NetherlandsDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The NetherlandsSeveral studies have suggested that precision livestock farming (PLF) is a useful tool for animal welfare management and assessment. Location, posture and movement of an individual are key elements in identifying the animal and recording its behaviour. Currently, multiple technologies are available for automated monitoring of the location of individual animals, ranging from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to ultra-wideband (UWB), RFID, wireless sensor networks (WSN) and even computer vision. These techniques and developments all yield potential to manage and assess animal welfare, but also have their constraints, such as range and accuracy. Combining sensors such as accelerometers with any location determining technique into a sensor fusion system can give more detailed information on the individual cow, achieving an even more reliable and accurate indication of animal welfare. We conclude that location systems are a promising approach to determining animal welfare, especially when applied in conjunction with additional sensors, but additional research focused on the use of technology in animal welfare monitoring is needed.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-862X/3/4/53PLFdairy cowscattlelocationanimal welfareGNSS
spellingShingle Gerben Hofstra
Judith Roelofs
Steven Mark Rutter
Elaine van Erp-van der Kooij
Jakob de Vlieg
Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
Dairy
PLF
dairy cows
cattle
location
animal welfare
GNSS
title Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
title_full Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
title_fullStr Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
title_full_unstemmed Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
title_short Mapping Welfare: Location Determining Techniques and Their Potential for Managing Cattle Welfare—A Review
title_sort mapping welfare location determining techniques and their potential for managing cattle welfare a review
topic PLF
dairy cows
cattle
location
animal welfare
GNSS
url https://www.mdpi.com/2624-862X/3/4/53
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