novel approaches to expression and detection of oestrus in dairy cows

of wellbeing. Cows spent more time lying and lie down more often on
mattresses than concrete surfaces (Haley et al., 2001), spent more time
lying down and for longer periods in wider stalls (132 vs. 112 cm) (Tucker
et al., 2004) and lying time increased when wet bedding was replaced with
dry bedding (Fregonesi et al., 2007). Lying time can however also function
as an indicator of lameness. Severely lame cows are easily detected by
herdsmen, but moderate lameness, which has an equal impact on
production and profit, often goes undetected. Cows displaying shorter lying
periods caused by high stocking density or hierarchical factors, longer
times waiting for milking, and especially more time standing immobile can
be predisposed to lameness (Blowey, 2005) whereas lameness can also
cause more time to be spent lying down which can be used as an indicator
of lameness (Walker et al., 2008b). It has been reported that moderately
lame cows stand up later than other cows once food has been delivered
and lie down earlier after feeding, thus spend less time standing and
eating, therefore can be a predictor of moderate lameness (Yunta et al.,
2012). UWB has the potential to monitor abnormal behaviour such as short
lying time or longer lying times to indicate potential cows that may become
lame, or to treat lameness. Furthermore management routines may be
altered if overstocking is prevalent or if too much time is spent waiting to
be milked which could be causing problems. Feeding times are often set
and known, therefore real-time reports of position by UWB can indicate
those cows not engaging fully in feeding behaviour and hence identifying
potential ill health.
Lying time also functions as an indicator of mastitis; induced clinical
mastitis resulted in reduced lying time caused by pain and discomfort in
the initial 20 hours of infection (Cyples et al., 2012;Siivonen et al., 2011).
Cows were also reported to display an altered stance in response to
mastitis (Kemp et al., 2008). Here UWB could automatically report any
cows that have been standing longer than normal or for prolonged periods
to identify mastitis.
Three dimensional position of the dairy barn can also be mapped and thus
be used to monitor feeding and drinking time and behaviour through
positional coordinates which is useful for determining health and
productivity. Decreased feed intake has been reported in cows responding
to an experimentally induced LPS challenge simulating mastitis (Waldron et
al., 2006). Decreased feeding time and decreased feed intake also
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