Journal of Central European Agriculture (Sep 2024)
Overview of current methods for monitoring behavioral activities and reproduction in dairy cattle: a review
Abstract
The aim of the review was to create a structured overview of the available systems used for monitoring behavioral manifestations, detecting estrus, and tracking the health status of breeders, from historical to modern automated systems. Furthermore, the goal was to present the optimal system variant for monitoring dairy cows to detect occurrences of estrus and assess health status. The current trend in breeding practices undeniably moves towards the automation of observation and analysis of a large volume of data sets, which streamlines and facilitates the decision-making processes in breeding. Modern systems for monitoring estrus manifestations allow for an increase in the reproductive level in dairy herds, an increase in the percentage of detected estrus, and pregnancies in heifers and cows. The efficiency of reproduction depends on many factors such as proper conditioning, energy balance, management of the transition period, and the construction or capacity of the barn. The success of the reproductive program also depends on the ability to identify breeders suitable for insemination and then inseminate them at the correct time. In the future, methods based predominantly on precise computational principles should be used for detecting animals suitable for insemination, allowing for continuous and long-term monitoring and evaluation of animal manifestations. Other methods not based on electronic principles do not achieve the desired level of efficiency due to high production and metabolic stress, which is manifested by lower intensity and shorter duration of physiological and behavioural manifestations of estrus. As a result of these factors, a combination of automatic monitoring methods using neck responders and targeted application of hormones in justified situations appears to be optimal.
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