Field evaluation of 2 collar-mounted activity meters for detecting cows in estrus on a large pasture-grazed dairy farm

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that a commercially available system for detecting estrus based on cow activity would perform similarly to that of typical, visual assessment of mounting indicators placed on the tail head of the cow. The hypothesis was applied to a large, pasture-grazed, seasonal-calving dairy herd, and the technology was tested as a stand-alone system. One of 2 types of commercially available collar-mounted activity meters was fitted to 635 cows, and the activity data collected during the 37-d artificial breeding period were analyzed. The first collar-mounted activity meter monitored activity only (AO collars), whereas the second meter measured activity and rumination characteristics (AR collars). Only activity data were used in the current study. Activity-based estrus alerts were initially identified using the default activity threshold value recommended by the manufacturer, but a range of activity threshold values was then analyzed to determine their effect on estrus detection performance. Milk progesterone data and insemination records were used to identify gold standard positive (n = 835) and negative (n = 22,660) estrus dates, to which activity alerts were compared. Visual assessment of mounting indicators resulted in a manual detection performance of 91.3% sensitivity (SN), 99.8% specificity (SP), and 94.5% positive predictive value (PPV). The AR collars achieved 76.9, 99.4, and 82.4% for SN, SP, and PPV, whereas the AO collars achieved 62.4, 99.3, and 76.6% for SN, SP, and PPV, respectively. The observed performance of the activity systems may be underestimated due to test design and applied assumptions, including determining the date of estrus. Lowering the activity threshold from the default value improved sensitivity but the number of false positive alerts was considered to become unmanageable from a practical perspective as sensitivity reached peak values. Time window analysis, receiver operating characteristic curves, and curves of SN and PPV were found to be useful in the analysis and interpretation of results. They generate relevant performance data that allow for meaningful comparisons between similar studies. Although the 2 activity systems tested did not perform to the high level of manual estrus detection found in this study, the potential exists for these systems to be a valuable tool on farms with lower estrus detection performance or for farmers managing larger herds.