Abstract

In this study, the utility of a commercial intravaginal thermometer was evaluated as an automated method for the prediction of calving in a total of 257 healthy pregnant Holstein-Friesian female cattle. The accuracy and the sensitivity of predicting calving within 48hr before calving were also evaluated. The intravaginal temperature changes from 72hr before and up to calving were significantly (p≤.001) affected by parity, season (summer vs. autumn), the time of day (8a.m. or 8p.m.) and the 6-hr time intervals (38.19°C: first interval 0 to 6hr before calving vs. 38.78°C: twelfth interval 66 to 72hr before calving), while the gender (p=.943), and the weight of the calf (p=.610), twinning (p=.300), gestation length (p=.186), foetal presentation (p=.123), dystocia (p=.197) and retention of foetal membranes (p=.253) did not affect it significantly. The sensitivity of the SMS of expecting calving within 48hr and the positive predictive value were 62.4% and 75%, respectively, while the sensitivity and the positive predictive value for the SMS of expulsion reached 100%. It can be concluded that the investigated thermometer is not able to predict calving within 48hr accurately; however, imminent calving can be accurately alerted.

Highlights

  • Prediction of the exact time of calving would be highly important especially in small farms where there are no assistants working in day and night shifts. It has been known for a long time that precalving decrease in body temperature can be used for prediction of calving (Ewbank, 1963; Graf & Petersen, 1953; Porterfield & Olson, 1957)

  • Digital data loggers have recently made the continuous recording possible, and via global system for mobile (GSM) technology, the actual vaginal temperature data can be received on mobile phones

  • There is paucity of information (Chanvallon, Leblay, Girardot, Daviere, & Lamy, 2012; Ricci et al, 2018) regarding the actual performance of those marketed devices used under field conditions; the aim of the present study was to evaluate the utility of an intravaginal thermometer as an automated method for prediction of calving in a Holstein–Friesian Hungarian dairy farm

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Summary

Introduction

Prediction of the exact time of calving would be highly important especially in small farms where there are no assistants working in day and night shifts. Several reports have confirmed the precalving decrease in vaginal temperature by using sensors inserted into the vagina after attaching to a modified controlled internal drug release device without progesterone at least 6 days before the expected time of calving retrospectively as temperature data could be downloaded only after calving (Burfeind, Suthar, Voigtsberger, Bonk, & Heuwieser, 2011; Miwa, Matsuyama, Nakamura, Noda, & Sakatani, 2019; Ouellet et al, 2016). Vaginal thermometers inform the user via SMS on its activation, the day-to-day changes in temperature, of the imminence of calving in the last 48 hr before calving and of the expulsion of the device (the onset of the second stage of labour)

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