Using walking speed for lameness detection in lactating dairy cows

Abstract

Lameness detection is performed based on deviations from the normal gait pattern of cows. Thereby each cow must be individually considered and thoroughly assessed. This process makes lameness detection a time-consuming job for the farmer, especially since herd sizes keep increasing. A sensor-based lameness detection could save the farmer time and complies simultaneously with advancing technological developments. The goal of this study was therefore to determine, whether there is a close causal relationship between walking speed and lameness, respectively lameness degree, so that walking speed could be integrated as a feature into a prediction model.To survey walking speed, we performed repeated time measurements on 53 lactating dairy cows of the Holstein Friesian breed while, passing through a 8.40 m long, straight test track. After morning and evening milking, the run time and the current locomotion score (LMS) were recorded for each cow.We found that lameness was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with walking speed. Lame cows (LMS ≥ 3) covered the test track at a significantly slower walking speed than non-lame cows (LMS ≤ 2). Also, the longer cows had suffered from lameness before, the slower the cows cover the distance.We conclude that such simple walking speed measurements can efficiently support lameness detection and thus contribute to the well-being of cows as well as the farmers’ benefit in time.