A head covering for protecting the head and ears of a livestock animal such as cattle, goats and sheep is described. The head covering includes a main sleeve formed of stretchable fabric and defined by a neck opening, a snout opening, a pair of ear openings and a pair of eye openings. The main sleeve is stretchable radially around the head and the snout of the livestock animal. The head covering includes a pair of elongated ear covers formed of stretchable fabric. The ear covers are connected to the main sleeve adjacent to peripheral edges of the ear openings. The head covering is particularly useful in operations involving raising livestock in cold weather conditions, for prevention of frostbite on the ears.

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method of tracking animals is provided. Such a method typically includes recognizing, by using at least one data processor, individual animals in images of a plurality of the animals; and tracking the animals using a probabilistic tracking-by-detection process. In another aspect, a system for recognizing animals is provided. Such a system typically includes an instance detection and part localization module; a visual marker classification module; a fixed-cardinality track interpolation module; and a maximum a posteriori estimation of animal identity module.

Disclosed is a member (1) for holding an object (2) in position on an element (3) provided with a bore (4), the object (2) comprising a so-called male part (10) designed as a pointed rod, the free end of which is suitable for inserting in a reception housing provided in a so-called female part of the holding member (1), characterized in that the reception housing is provided, at its opening, with a means (15) for guiding the male part (10) into the reception housing.

A system and method are disclosed for tracking animals, which may include production animals as well as pets. The system and method may comprise a tag system that is attached to an animal that generally has at least a near-field-communication (NFC) tag. The tag system comprises at least an NFC tag and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag. For NFC tags, such tags may be read with a portable computing device, such as a mobile telephone running NFC reader application software. The phone may communicate with a communications network and ultimately a computer server in order to relay information received from a respective electronic tag. The electronic tags may be fastened, embedded, or ingested by an animal. The electronic tags may be part of a mechanical coupling. Each mechanical coupling may comprise a different structure depending on the whether the tags are fastened to, embedded in, or ingested by the animal.

An apparatus for raising livestock includes one or more confinement pens together with alleyways for transfer of the animals from one location to another. The apparatus includes one or more cameras for obtaining images of all animals in the containment area. A processor is provided for analyzing the images, the processor being arranged to allocate an arbitrary identification to each animal and to track all animals continually to maintain the allocation. From this tracking various data related to individual animals or the animals as a group can be obtained to assess their characteristics and to provide an indication to the worker of the animal to be extracted. The processor can be arranged to detect by image analysis of the image a quantity of feed and/or water in a feeder and to obtain images of the farrowing pen including the sow confinement area and at least one piglet confinement area.

In one aspect, an EID button tag is provided herein for tagging and identifying cattle as being inoculated against brucellosis, the EID button tag including: a shell having a central opening; a transponder located in the shell; a male punch having a disc-shaped punch body and a stem extending distally therefrom, the stem having a head configured for irreversible insertion into the central opening, wherein a mounting opening is formed through the punch body with a mounting channel extending distally from the mounting opening and coaxially along the stem; and, a vaccination identification button having a disc-shaped visual identification body and a mounting stem extending distally therefrom, wherein the mounting stem is configured for irreversible insertion into the mounting channel. The punch body and the visual identification body are primarily tinted with different colors to provide visual identification of a head of cattle being inoculated against brucellosis.

An animal information management system includes an identification information obtaining unit which obtains identification information of an animal included in a first image, based on the first image captured by an imaging device during patrol imaging of a predetermined region in a first zoom setting in which only part of the predetermined region is an imaging target, the animal being included in animals present in the predetermined region; and a control unit which causes the imaging device to capture a second image including the animal in a second zoom setting having a zooming magnification lower than that of the first zoom setting when the identification information is obtained.

An animal individual identification member includes a first base brought into contact with a body of an animal, a second base including an identification portion indicating identification information of the animal by a sequence of mutually different adjacent colors, and an adhesive layer which is located between the first base and the second base and bonds the first base and the second base. The first base, the second base, and the adhesive layer have identical resin skeletons.

A system and method for estimating livestock weight is described. Embodiments of the system can include a computing device and a three-dimensional tag configured to be secured to an animal. One or more images of an animal, including the three-dimensional tag, can be processed to take various measurements of the animal. A scaling factor for the measurements can be based on the three-dimensional tag. After the measurement are calibrated, a weight of the animal can be estimated based on the calibrated measurements.

A method and system for assisting a human in detecting an exception animal, for which an abnormal measurement value has been detected, wherein a geographical position is obtained of the exception animal, a geographical position if obtained of a user equipment of the human, a distance is determined between the obtained geographical position of the exception animal and the obtained geographical position of the user equipment, and when the determined distance is smaller than a threshold limit, an indication is sent to the user equipment confirming the proximate presence of the exception animal.