Potential for Estimation of Body Condition Scores in Dairy Cattle from Digital Images
- 1 September 2008
- journal article
- Published by American Dairy Science Association in Journal of Dairy Science
- Vol. 91 (9), 3439-3453
- https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2007-0836
Abstract
Body condition scoring, an indirect measure of the level of subcutaneous fat in dairy cattle, has been widely adopted for research and field assessment or for management purposes on farms. The feasibility of utilizing digital images to determine body condition score (BCS) was assessed for lactating dairy cows at the Scottish Agricultural College Crichton Royal Farm. Two measures of BCS were obtained by using the primary systems utilized in the United Kingdom (UK-BCS) and the United States (USBCS). Means were 2.12 (+/-0.35) and 2.89 (+/-0.40), modes were 2.25 and 2.75, and ranges were 1.0 to 3.5 and 1.5 to 4.5 for the UKBCS (n = 2,346) and USBCS (n = 2,571), respectively. Up to 23 anatomical points were manually identified on images captured automatically as cows passed through a weigh station. Points around the hooks were easier to identify on images than points around pins and the tailhead. All identifiable points were used to define and formulate measures describing the cow's contour. For both BCS systems, hook angle, posterior hook angle, and tailhead depression were significant predictors of BCS. When the full data set testing only the angles around the hooks was used, 100% of predicted BCS were within 0.50 points of actual USBCS and 92.79% were within 0.25 points; and 99.87% of predicted BCS were within 0.50 points of actual UKBCS and 89.95% were within 0.25 points. In a reduced data set considering only observations in which the tailhead depression angle was available, adding the tailhead depression to models did not improve model predictions. The relationships of the calculated angles with USBCS were stronger than those with UKBCS. This research demonstrates the potential for using digital images for assessing BCS. Future efforts should explore ways to automate this process by using a larger number of animals to predict scores accurately for cows across all levels of body condition.Keywords
Funding Information
- IceRobotics Ltd
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Determination of live weight and body condition score in lactating Mediterranean buffalo by Visual Image AnalysisLivestock Science, 2008
- Body Condition Assessment Using Digital ImagesJournal of Dairy Science, 2006
- Within- and Across-Person Uniformity of Body Condition Scoring in Danish Holstein CattleJournal of Dairy Science, 2006
- Invited Review: Methods to Determine Body Fat Reserves in the Dairy Cow with Special Regard to Ultrasonographic Measurement of Backfat ThicknessJournal of Dairy Science, 2006
- The Relationship Between Body Condition Score and Reproductive PerformanceJournal of Dairy Science, 2001
- Monitoring Pig Growth using a Prototype Imaging SystemJournal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 1999
- Relationship between body condition score and body composition in dairy cowsNew Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1998
- Determination of live weight of pigs from dimensions measured using image analysisComputers and Electronics in Agriculture, 1996
- A Body Condition Scoring Chart for Holstein Dairy CowsJournal of Dairy Science, 1989
- Estimation in vivo of the chemical composition of the bodies of mature cowsAnimal Science, 1984