Infrared thermography and behavioral biometrics associated with estrus indicators and ovulation in estrus-synchronized dairy cows housed in tiestalls

Abstract

Most Canadian dairy herds operate in tiestall housing (61%), where average estrus detection rates may be lower than 54%. The objective of this study was to evaluate infrared thermography and behavioral biometrics as indicators of estrus in dairy cows. Eighteen cyclic multiparous cows (Synch) were subjected to an estrus synchronization protocol, and 18 pregnant cows (control) received a sham protocol on the same schedule and frequency as the cyclic cow treatment. A decline in plasma concentrations of progesterone and the appearance of a dominant follicle using transrectal ultrasonography were used as indirect indicators of estrus, and the disappearance of a dominant follicle was used to confirm ovulation. All cows were monitored via visual cameras to determine the frequency of treading, drinking, neighbor interaction, tail movement, lying, and shifting behaviors. Infrared thermograms were recorded at the eye, muzzle, cheek, neck, front right foot, front left foot, rump, flank, vulva area, tail head, and withers. To evaluate the accuracy of behavioral and thermal parameters, a predefined minimum acceptable value (i.e., threshold) for estrus alerts (>0.30 Youden J index and >0.60 area under the curve) was used. Ovulation was confirmed in 14 (77.7%) out of 18 Synch cows. Eye, cheek, neck, rump, flank, vulva area, and wither thermograms exhibited higher temperatures at 48 h [cycle threshold (Δt) = +0.30 to 1.20°C] and 24 h before ovulation compared with 4 d prior to ovulation (Δt = 0.06 to 0.11°C) and during ovulation day (Δt = 0.03 to 0.32°C) in the Synch group. In addition, control cows exhibited greater treading activity per day compared with Synch cows (20.84 ± 0.39 vs. 16.35 events/5 min ± 0.34), and tail movement frequency was greater in Synch cows compared with control cows (14.84 ± 2.7 vs. 10.11 ± 4.7 events/5 min). However, within Synch cows, tail movement was the only behavior that significantly increased in frequency 2 d before ovulation (11.81 ± 1.71 events/5 min) followed by a decrease in frequency 1 d before ovulation (4.67 ± 1.05 events/5 min) compared with ovulation day (0 d; 6.10 ± 1.25 events/5 min) and during luteolysis (3 d before ovulation; 6.01 ± 1.25 events/5 min). Upon evaluation of all variables (thermograms and behavior frequencies) as estrus indicators at 48 and 24 h before ovulation, treading and tail movements before milking and 9 thermal locations satisfied the predefined minimum acceptable value for estrus alerts. This study demonstrates that fluctuations in radiated temperature measured at specific anatomical locations and the frequency of tail movements and treading behaviors can be used as a noninvasive estrus alerts in multiparous cows housed in a tiestall system.

Clinical Applications and Factors Involved in Validating Thermal Windows Used in Infrared Thermography in Cattle and River Buffalo to Assess Health and Productivity

“…Results showed that the temperature of the perineal region ( regio perinealis ), especially the vulvar area, the orbital region ( region orbitalis ), including the eye, facial regions ( regiones faciei ) such as the cheek, neck regions ( regiones colli ), the wither region ( regio interscapularis ), the flank region ( regio abdominis lateralis ), and the rump region ( r egio glutea ) all increased by approximately 1.2 °C and remained in that range for 24 and 48 h before ovulation, compared to the day of ovulation and four days before it. These data reveal the relation between temperature variability in this region and estrus in cattle [ 51 ].…”

“…This peripheral vascular and nervous network is known to respond to stressful or harmful stimuli. It is represented in Figure 3 , showing the location of the orbital region in the medial canthus of the eyelids [ 30 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. These fibers are sensitive to neurosecretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine that promotes vasoconstriction in the capillaries, thus reducing heat exchange rate and functioning as a local thermoregulating mechanism [ 14 ].…”

Allonursing in Wild and Farm Animals: Biological and Physiological Foundations and Explanatory Hypotheses

“…The amygdala, NAc and BDNST also have a role in the reward system and maternal memory, and the former in the olfactory recognition of the offspring. ADH: antidiuretic hormone; BNST: bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; MPOA/AH: medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus; NAc: nucleus accumbens; OX: oxytocin; PRL: prolactin; PVN: paraventricular nucleus; VTA: ventral tegmental area, adepted from [ 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 ].…”

Early Detection of Mastitis by using Infrared Thermography in Holstein-Friesian Dairy Cows via Classification and Regression Tree (CART) Analysis

“…Thermal cameras first started to be used in military areas and later became widespread in industrial areas (Polat et al 2010). Recently, IRT has been used frequently for early diagnosis of some diseases such as mastitis (Bitman et al 1984;Porcıonata et al 2009;Polat et al 2010;Sathiyabarayhi et al 2016and Golzarian et al 2017), lameness (Eddy et al 2001Alsaaod et al 2012;Stokes et al 2012;Gianesella et al 2018;Fabbri et al 2020), östrus detection (Hurnik et al 1985;Talukder et al 2014;Marquez et al 2019), sperm quality (Menegassi at al. 2015), pregnancy (Jones at al.…”