Two new studies show the extremely high accuracy of the Dairymaster MooMonitor+ system for monitoring cows’ behaviour. The MooMonitor+ came first in class for both indoor and outdoor scenarios in the scientific trials. In these studies, the MooMonitor+ was compared against other sensors and specialist round the clock observations of actual behaviour. In scientific terms the results are described by the Pearson correlation coefficient with the studies showing correlation coefficients as high as 99%!
The MooMonitor+ is a health and fertility monitoring system which detects cows in heat and monitors the resting, feeding, rumination, head position and restlessness of each animal 24×7. This system improves farm profitability by decreasing labour requirements on farm, improving reproductive performance and minimizing losses due to missed heats, undiagnosed illnesses and general cow health.
This is the first system validated in both indoor and outdoor scenarios respectively by two independent research centres for both rumination and feeding at opposite ends of the world. Both prove the precision of the Dairymaster MooMonitor+ system.
More precise measurement of rumination data gives the farmer a great indication of animal welfare and performance. Cows love to ruminate, it tells how the cow is feeling and reflects their digestive performance. It can also enhance heat detection accuracy even further and indicates when a cow is getting sick. The MooMonitor+ system pushes health alerts to the farmers smart phone making them aware when it detects abnormal behaviour. This allows early intervention, reduced antibiotic usage and better recovery rates on farm.
Production is directly linked to feeding and by measuring feeding times, intakes can be estimated. This allows diets to be optimized on-farm helping the farmer to establish higher production and feed efficiency.
The recent research was undertaken on an indoor herd at the University of Kentucky and published in the Journal of Dairy Science. The other study took place on a grazing herd at Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork and published in Animal – A major new International Journal of Animal Bioscience.
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