Developments on real-time monitoring of grazing cattle feeding behavior using sound

Abstract

Estimating forage intake and monitoring the foraging behavior of grazing livestock are difficult tasks. Detection and classification of jaw movements are very useful to obtain that information. In a similar way, the monitoring and analysis of long-term activities such as rumination and grazing provide useful insight. Several works have demonstrated that acoustic monitoring is an adequate way to analyze ruminant feeding behavior. In this work, we present a complete system for monitoring ruminant foraging behavior. As components of such a system, a review about two own methods based on the analysis of acoustic signals is included: i) a short-term analysis system that automatically detects and classifies jaw movements, and ii) a long-term analysis system for the recognition of grazing and rumination activities. Both systems use simple concepts and tools derived from signal processing and pattern recognition areas. A description of an ad-hoc electronic platform is also included.