A method of smart cattle reproduction management and digital farm to market transparency metrics tracks, monitors, and predicts reproductive efficiency, providing actionable information that allows the cattle rancher to optimize operations to ensure a high calf crop percentage. Using conventional ear tags to track and monitor the location, temperature, and movement of each animal in the herd, a highly accurate and data-driven reproductive performance score may be calculated for open heifers, cows, and bulls, thereby allowing actions to be taken to enhance reproductive efficiency. In addition, given the high risk of losing a heifer during calving, a method provides a means to detect, in advance and remotely, when a pregnant heifer is about to start calving to allow the cattle rancher to go on site, locate the animal, and provide any veterinary assistance that may be required should the delivery be difficult.

A method of smart cattle reproduction management and digital farm to market transparency metrics tracks, monitors, and predicts reproductive efficiency, providing actionable information that allows the cattle rancher to optimize operations to ensure a high calf crop percentage. Using conventional ear tags to track and monitor the location, temperature, and movement of each animal in the herd, a highly accurate and data-driven reproductive performance score may be calculated for open heifers, cows, and bulls, thereby allowing actions to be taken to enhance reproductive efficiency. In addition, given the high risk of losing a heifer during calving, a method provides a means to detect, in advance and remotely, when a pregnant heifer is about to start calving to allow the cattle rancher to go on site, locate the animal, and provide any veterinary assistance that may be required should the delivery be difficult.

A system for analyzing a condition of an animal, wherein the system includes at least an identification unit (2.1) which is arranged to be worn by an animal, wherein the identification unit includes a first transmitter unit (4), a movement sensor (6), and a control unit (8) which is communicatively connected with the transmitter unit and the movement sensor, wherein the system further includes a receiver unit (8) and a computer (10) which is connected with the receiver unit and wherein the system further includes positioning means for measuring a position of the identification unit, wherein the control unit is arranged for, in use, storing and/or processing electronic information of movements of the animal which have been obtained with the movement sensor. The system is further arranged to feed positions of the identification unit measured with the aid of the positioning means to the computer and/or the control unit, wherein the computer and/or the control unit is arranged to process the electronic information about detected movements and the electronic information about the measured positions in combination for analyzing the condition of the animal.

The invention relates to a method to automatically predict a calving moment of a cow, comprising: recording, by a three-dimensional camera system, at least one three-dimensional image of the cow, processing, by a processing device, the at least one image of the cow, wherein processing of the image comprises determining a parameter indicative of the calving moment, and predicting a calving moment of the cow on the basis of the parameter.

A method performed by a computer for image analyzation includes: receiving, by a processor of the computer, an image captured by an imaging device; specifying, by the processor of the computer, first and second areas in the image; detecting, by the processor of the computer, a target object from the image in accordance with a certain pattern indicating a range of color saturation in an analysis of a color of the target object; and extending, by the processor of the computer, the range of color saturation in processing of the detecting the target object, when luminance of the first area in the image is lower than a first threshold and luminance of the second area in the image is equal to or higher than a second threshold.

Method and system for determining calving information about a moment at which a cow is going to calve, a period in which a cow is going to calve or the moment at which the cow has calved. The system comprises a sensor and a signal processing unit which is configured to process signals obtained with the sensor. With the sensor a heartbeat of the cow is measured so that the signals obtained with the sensor comprise information about the measured heartbeat of the animal. With the signal processing unit an increased heartbeat is recognized according to a predetermined criterion on the basis of signals obtained with the sensor. If the increased heartbeat is recognized with the signal processing unit, the signal processing unit generates an alarm signal which comprises the calving information.

A monitoring system is used with one or more hogs in order to monitor the hogs. The system can monitor the health of the hogs to determine, predictively, if a change is occurring such that the change could be a health risk. The system can also determine farrowing, including the number of piglets and weight of the piglets. The system is capable of monitoring movement and eating patters to determine if a change has occurred that may signify a change in the health of the one or more hogs. The data of the system can be compiled and processed to allow the system to become self-learning in order to better predict and analyze the hog or hogs.

A calving monitoring system for monitoring an animal at the end of the expected gestation period includes a camera device for repeatedly taking images of the animal, a control unit for generating calving information from the images taken, and an alert device for sending an alert message according to the calving information generated. The control unit is configured so as, in each image taken, to recognize an animal image, to segment the animal image into multiple animal parts including a torso, to determine a parameter value relating to first pixels of said torso in the taken images as a time-dependent parametric function, and to detect contractions when the parameter value meets a predetermined contraction criterion. The criterion is that the parameter value exhibits at least two peaks in the predetermined time duration which have at least a predetermined minimum width and/or a predetermined minimum height.

An apparatus for monitoring a biological condition of pregnant breeding cattle includes a training data collection unit to select and use at least two of an implantable device, a wearable device or an imaging device as a training data collection device to create multiple training data, a prediction model training unit to pre-train a prediction model through the multiple training data, a device cooperation cases setting unit to decide and store device cooperation cases by collecting and analyzing sensing data acquired through the training data collection devices, a device cooperation conducting unit to preprocess the sensing data of a monitoring device according to the device cooperation cases when at least one of the training data collection devices is selected as the monitoring device, and a biological condition prediction unit to predict and output a biological condition corresponding to the sensing data preprocessed through the prediction model.

This invention relates to a method of providing an indication of the oncoming parturition in livestock and an apparatus for carrying out the method. A tail mounted sensor is mounted on the tail of an animal such as a cow or a horse and the tail mounted sensor detects whether the tail is raised or lowered. Each time that the tail is raised by at least a fixed angle of, say 10, for a certain period of time T.sub.1, the sensor records this as a contraction. The sensor then monitors the number of contractions over a given second period of time, T.sub.2. When the number of contractions in the second period of time equal or exceed a certain amount, an alarm is raised. The method and system are such that they can be adjusted for different animals. It is envisaged that less false alarms and less missed births will result as a consequence of this method and apparatus.