Mounting behavior is detected easily. A mounting behavior detection system includes a mounting-side apparatus, a mounted-side apparatus, and a charging apparatus. The mounting-side apparatus is attached to the neck or the chin of a first domestic animal, is configured to emit a transmission signal, and includes a battery. The mounted-side apparatus is attached at any position from the back to the tail of a second domestic animal and is configured to transmit a response signal in response to the transmission signal. The charging apparatus is configured to transmit power wirelessly to the battery.

A bovine monitoring system may include a rumination sensor, a motion sensor, a posture sensor. The rumination sensor may detect chewing by sensing jaw motion. The motion sensor may detect motion. The posture sensor may detect orientation of the bovine asset through detection of gravitational acceleration, detection of gyroscopic rotation, or a combination of gravitational acceleration and gyroscopic rotation. Using the recorded rumination, motion, and posture sensors, the bovine asset monitoring system may identify aberrations in the estrous cycle or physical or mental health of the bovine assets. A bovine monitoring system may include a thermal scanning device to detect localized heating of the vulva area of the bovine asset, which may be used to identify aberrations in the estrous cycle or physical or mental health of the bovine assets.

The present invention relates to a method for calculating the body condition scoreBCS, the weight of an animal and its state of fertility by means of the mathematical processing of some characteristic morphological traits of the observed subject, which makes use of at least one contact or no-contact detection device of the profile 109 of the animal, at least a data processing unit and a program that implements a specific mathematical method of interpretation. By such a method, the determination of the body condition and its synthetic index or fattening index or FI, is independent of species, race, gender, age and absolute size of the examined animal. This method is also robust to possible errors of positioning of the apparatus by an operator.

Exemplary embodiments are directed to sensor apparatuses for attachment to an animal that include a housing and a sensor assembly. The housing can be attachable to the animal and includes an internal cavity formed therein. The sensor assembly can be disposed within the internal cavity of the housing. The sensor assembly includes a force sensor and an accelerometer arranged to detect force data and accelerometer data representative of a physiological state of the animal. Exemplary embodiments are also directed to method and sensor systems for detecting a physiological state of an animal.

A device (5) attached to the neck (6) of an animal (2) includes an accelerometer (28) which produces first and second signals indicative of movement of the animal (2) and the raised and lowered states of the head of the animal. A microprocessor (30) in the device (5) processes the first and second signals to detect ruminating, resting, feeding and three activity states of the animal during respective second predefined time periods of approximately 15 minutes duration. Data indicative of the states of the animal is stored by the microprocessor (30) in the device (5) and periodically transmitted to a cloud computer server which further processes the data to determine various health states and other issues of the animal.

The invention relates to a system for monitoring the reproductive activity of animals where a male mounts a female in order to mate, this system can determine the following information each time a male mounts a female, namely: whether or not the male has ejaculated, the date and time of ejaculation, and the identification of the female mounted. The system comprises an electronic sensor device placed on male animals, a radio-frequency identification tag placed on female animals, a system for preventing multiple or erroneous readings, and an electronic hand-held device for collecting information and configuring devices. The invention also includes a communication system and a central system that manages and concentrates all of the information, allowing the user to access said information in an organised, centralised and systematic manner.

Exemplary embodiments are directed to sensor apparatuses for attachment to an animal that include a housing and a sensor assembly. The housing can be attachable to the animal and includes an internal cavity formed therein. The sensor assembly can be disposed within the internal cavity of the housing. The sensor assembly includes a force sensor and an accelerometer arranged to detect force data and accelerometer data representative of a physiological state of the animal. Exemplary embodiments are also directed to method and sensor systems for detecting a physiological state of an animal.

This invention relates to a method, system and apparatus for detecting when an animal is in heat. The invention further relates to a method of alerting a responsible individual that the animal is in heat. The method for detecting when an animal is in heat comprises the steps of, using a sensor mounted on a bull, monitoring the activity of the bull in the proximity of the animal. Thereafter, the activity of the bull is analysed before finally it is determined, based on the analysed activity of the bull, whether or not the animal is in heat. The invention shifts the focus from the animal, such as a cow, to the bull and leans on the natural instincts of the bull to determine when the cow is in heat. By implementing such a system, a more reliable and/or less expensive system than many of the existing offerings is provided.

Methods according to aspects of the present invention relate to the determination of whether a female ruminant ungulate is open or not open using flow cytometry to detect an expression level of an interferon-stimulated gene in leukocytes of a biological sample from the female ruminant ungulate.

A device (5) attached to the neck (6) of an animal (2) comprises an accelerometer (17) which produces first and second signals indicative of the raised and lowered state of the head (7) of the animal (2) and movement of the animal (2). A microprocessor (20) in the device (5) processes the first and second signals to determine if the animal is ruminating, resting, feeding or in a highly active state during respective second predefined time periods of approximately 15 minutes duration. Data indicative of the ruminating, resting, feeding and the highly active state of the animal is stored by the microprocessor (20) in the device (5) and is periodically wirelessly communicated to a base station computer which further processes the data to determine various health states of the animal.