automated mastitis detection for dairy farms amanda sterrett & jeffrey bewley university of...
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Automated Mastitis Detection
for Dairy Farms
Amanda Sterrett & Jeffrey BewleyUniversity of Kentucky
Dairy Systems Management
Because cows are routine-oriented, we can monitor their behavior and examine differences in:
Eating time / DMI
Standing / Lying time
Rumination time
Location within barn
Take advantage of simplicity
Body temperature
Ear, milk, reticulorumen, udder, vagina
Milk composition
SCC
Fat, lactose, protein, LDH, etc.
Electrical conductivity
Physiological monitoring
Potential Benefits
Early Mastitis
Detection
Early Treatment
Improved Treatment Outcome
Less Economic
Loss
Improved Prevention
Program
Less Production
Loss
Improved Animal Well-
Being
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sensitivity (true positive rate): alert with an observed mastitis case
Specificity (true negative rate): no alert with no mastitis
Ion concentration of milk changes during mastitis
Inexpensive and simple equipment
Wide range of sensitivity and specificity reported
Affected by sample time, milk viscosity, temperature, and sensor calibration
Most useful when combined with other data
Electrical Conductivity
Automated CMT or WMT
• CellSense (New Zealand)
• r = 0.76 with Fossomatic SCC
Alert based on EC
Alert based on In-Line SCC
Alert based on EC and SCC
Alert time perio
d
Observ-
ation period
Sensitivity
False
alert rate
Sensitivity
False alert rate
Sensitivity
False
alert rate
96 48 80 4.7 83.3 2.9 80 1.2
48 24 80 7.8 83.3 3.7 80 2.1
Somatic Cell Count
• In-line detection of cell count, milk temperature, and electrical conductivity
• Uses ATP luminescence as an indicator of the number of somatic cells
• Sensor connected to the milk hose below the milking claw
• Reagent cassette attached below display
Spectroscopy
• Visible, near-infrared, mid-infrared, or radio frequency
• Indirect identification through changes in milk composition
• AfiLab uses near infrared
– Fat, protein, lactose, SCC, and MUN
Temperature Limitations• Not all cases of mastitis result in a
temperature response
• Best location to collect temperature?
• Noise from other physiological impacts
Udder Thermography• Udder temperature closely related to rectal
temperature
• No early detection in LPS challenge (Hovinen et al., 2008)
• Potential use in dry cows
Hovinen et al., 2008
Before Infection After Infection
Accelerometers
• Measures lying time and activity/motion index
• Well researched and applied to many areas
• Lying is a high priority behavior
• May change lying time around mastitis
• May decrease activity around mastitis
• Lying time decreased by 73 minutes on the day of challenge (P < 0.01, Cyples et al., 2012)
Rumination Behavior
• Cows with mastitis may ruminate less
• r = 0.93 for automated rumination with live observations in cows (Schirmann et al., 2009)
Multi-parameter Sensors• Combination monitors may find a better
market than those sensors only targeted at one parameter:
– Temperature
– Activity
– Rumination
– Feeding Time
• Multivariate analyses
Economics
Positive return on investment
Producer satisfaction
What data is useful?
Reading frequency
What do we do with the data?
Culture, monitor, treat, ignore?
Considerations
Using technologies for mastitis monitoring is newer than using them for estrus detection
Algorithms are not yet perfected
Continued research is needed, particularly in naturally occurring mastitis
Conclusions
Questions?
Amanda Sterrett408 WP Garrigus BuildingLexington, KY [email protected]
Dr. Jeffrey Bewley407 WP Garrigus BuildingLexington, KY [email protected]