A monitoring apparatus (1) for monitoring of a condition state in a quadruped mammal is described, including at least a housing portion (3) comprising a plurality of motion sensors (11) disposed to sense movement in at least two degrees of freedom, a data capture module to capture movement data generated by the motion sensors, wireless transmitter module (17) to transmit captured data to a remotely located hub (21), and a power source (19) to provide electrical power; and an attachment portion (5) to engage the housing in a fixed orientation onto a surface of the body of an animal to be monitored, for example on the torso or neck. A mounting system including such an apparatus and a method of monitoring of a plurality of quadruped mammals to draw inferences in relation to a condition state using such an apparatus are also described.

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 Θ 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.

Methods are provided for estimation of birthing data (such as birthing date and birthing weight) by consideration of a mother animal's weight over an expected birthing period. The method includes: measuring or providing the weight of the mother animal at intervals over an expected birthing period to provide a series of dated weight records, estimating the underlying weight of the mother animal over the expected birthing period from the series of dated weight records, and identifying a significant weight drop of the mother animal by reference to the estimated underlying weight, wherein the estimated birthing date is on or before the date of the significant weight drop. The methods are particularly useful in animals associated with production, such as cattle.

A stretchable sensor patch comprising: an elastic film layer with a stretchability of at least 100% and at least one elastic DEAP strip with a stretchability of at least 50%. The sensor patch may comprise an integrated circuit, a memory, an energy source, an adhesion layer for adhesion of the film layer to a skin, and a protective layer. A sensor system with such a sensor patch is also disclosed.

An image capture device with processors can execute a set of instructions stored in the system memory to: receive a plurality of time-sequenced images of the animal from the digital image sensor; determine, using an artificial intelligence module, a first birth in process from a first subset of images of the plurality of time-sequenced images of the animal; and determine an interval of time lapse between the first birth in process from the first subset of images of the plurality of time-sequenced images of the animal and a next birth in process from the next subset of images of the plurality of time-sequenced images of the animal, as determined using the artificial intelligence module, and when the interval of time lapse between the first birth in process and the next birth in process exceeds a predetermined amount trigger an action from an alert trigger.

A physiological condition determination system and method can include: attaching a tag to animal tissue; emitting light into the animal tissue; detecting a first optical signal; extracting a first measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation from the first optical signal; qualifying the first measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation as a baseline; detecting a second optical signal with the optical sensor; extracting a second measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation from the second optical signal; qualifying the second measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation; storing the second measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation as a tag feature set; storing a history; determining animal distress based on the difference between the second measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation and the baseline; and sending an instruction to the tag.

A method of managing a disease and an apparatus performing the same are provided. The method of managing livestock disease includes receiving biometric information of livestock from a biosensor capsule settled in a body of the livestock, detecting a singular point deviating from a reference value, based on the biometric information, monitoring a health state by increasing a disease probability of the livestock when the singular point is detected, and detecting a disease by determining an abnormality in the health state of the livestock when the disease probability of the livestock is a first threshold value or more. An animal subject suspected of reproductive disorders (ovarian cyst) may be rapidly detected, and intensive care (veterinary examination and hormone prescription) may be provided to the farm, thereby increasing productivity of the farm.

A system and method which functions to automatically monitor a ruminant animal. The system includes a 3D camera system that obtains images from a region of interest. An image processor determines the surface curvature in the region of interest, as a function of time. Based on the frequency with which this function attains local maxima, a health indication for the animal is generated.

Aspects of the present invention relate to an apparatus and a method of determining when a cow may be in oestrus (in-heat), or when the cow is about to calve. The method comprises monitoring movement of the cow using a motion sensor or sensors attached to the cow. The method further comprises determining a mathematical function of the movement pattern of the cow based on the monitored movement of the cow over a period of time, and determining when the cow is in heat or about to calve by analysing and comparing the mathematical function to threshold values which are adjustable by a machine-learning self-adjusting algorithm.

This invention relates to a birthing sensor (1) for mounting on the tail of a pregnant animal. The birthing sensor comprises a casing (3) and an adjustable strap (5) for securing the casing to the tail of the pregnant animal. The casing houses monitoring equipment, communication equipment and a power supply. There is provided a padding insert (7, 37, 47) for location between the casing, the strap and the animal's tail. The padding insert comprises a sheet of resiliently deformable material, such as rubber, having a plurality of ventilation passageways formed therein. The ventilation passageways allow passage of air over the cow's tail underneath the sensor and further allow escape of urine and faeces from under the sensor. The passageways may be formed by having a plurality of upstanding bosses (9) on the surface of the padding insert and the passageways are the spaces between these upstanding bosses (9).