Use of a Tri-Axial Accelerometer Can Reliably Detect Play Behaviour in Newborn Calves

Abstract

<jats:p>Traditionally, the welfare assessment of farm animals has focused on health and production outcomes. Positive welfare is, however, not merely the absence of negative welfare and is an important part of a life worth living. Play behaviour is widely considered to be an indicator of positive emotions because it is a “luxury” behaviour. Direct visual observation is considered the most accurate method of behavioural analysis, but it is time consuming and laborious. There is increasing interest in the use of remote monitoring technology to quantify behaviour. We compared the data output (“motion index” (MI)) from a commercially available tri-axial accelerometer fitted to newborn dairy calves to video footage of the same calves, with a focus on play behaviour. The motion index values over 48 h were positively correlated with both the duration of play behaviour and the number of play bouts. The motion index threshold in each sample interval with the optimal sensitivity and specificity for the identification of play behaviour was MI ≥ 2.5 at a 1 min resolution (sensitivity (Se) = 98.0%; specificity (Sp) = 92.9%) and MI ≥ 24.5 at a 15 min resolution (Se = 98.0%; Sp = 89.9%), but these values consistently overestimated the overall proportion of sample intervals in which play was observed. The MI that best reflected the results obtained from visual one-zero sampling was MI ≥ 23 for 1 min intervals and MI ≥ 62 for 15 min intervals—this may therefore be the basis of a more conservative approach to the identification of play behaviour from accelerometer-generated data. Our results indicate that accelerometer-generated data can usefully indicate the amount of play behaviour shown by newborn calves for up to 48 h, providing an efficient method for identifying this important parameter in future work.</jats:p>

Short term feeding of industrial hemp with a high cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) content increases lying behavior and reduces biomarkers of stress and inflammation in Holstein steers

“…A significant treatment by time interaction was observed for motion index. Motion index is a measure of the animal’s overall activity and has been correlated to positive behavior such as running and jumping 18 . Cattle in the HEMP group had lower mean motion indexes during the acclimation period (− 48 h dosing), but an increase was observed following the first dose of IH.…”

Machine Learning Algorithms to Classify and Quantify Multiple Behaviours in Dairy Calves Using a Sensor: Moving beyond Classification in Precision Livestock

“…Recent studies have explored the potential of commercially available leg worn sensors, to identify play behaviour in calves. One study used a summary acceleration data feature (motion index) to predict whether play was present or absent within predefined sampling periods (1 min or 15 min) [ 39 ]. The optimised threshold was an accurate predictor of whether play occurred or not in each 15 min.…”

Towards a Positive Welfare Protocol for Cattle: A Critical Review of Indicators and Suggestion of How We Might Proceed

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