Experimental area „Tracking”

Whether on the pasture or in the stable, as an livestock owner you are interested in providing your cows with the best possible care so that the animals are doing well. And if necessary treatments for oestrus, lameness or vaccinations have to be carried out, then individual cows, cattle or even calves can be found quickly by tracking.

Determining the exact position of animals is called localization. A distinction is made between indoor tracking in the stable and outdoor tracking on the pasture. If the location, or in more scientific terms, the exact position of the animals is recorded continuously, this is referred to as tracking. On the one hand, tracking systems can be used to locate animals precisely. Similar to the navigation system in a car, a practical user can quickly find the specific locations in the stable or, in the future, also on the pasture by directions on the smartphone. On the other hand, positions measured in the stable (feed fence, cubicle, etc.) and on the pasture can be associated with typical behavioural activities such as eating, resting or grazing. From these determined positions and their temporal progression, scientists hope to be able to extract a wide variety of behavioural patterns and the well-being of the animals. For example, movement, resting and feeding behaviour can provide indications of impending diseases or can be used as indicators for assessing animal welfare. Especially the combination of tracking with additional sensors on the animal from EB2 seems to be very promising for this purpose.

However, tracking is not limited to the localization and determination of derivable behaviours of cows, cattle or calves. It is also feasible to improve the increasing use of slatted robots and automatic feed pushers in interaction with the entire infrastructure in the barn.

Slogan: “Where are my cows, what are they doing, how are they doing and how can I find them quickly?”