Monitoring individual cow feed intake is necessary for calculating the cow individual feed efficiency. The cost and maintenance time necessary for research systems make them impractical for most of the commercial producers. We developed a measurement system with producer convenience and low investment as key design criteria. The goal of this study was to design the system and validate its ability to rank cows by their feed conversion efficiency in commercial farms. The new system consisted of three principal parts: (a) a hanging weighing system, (b) a visual cow identification system and (c) an automatic cleaning system. The weighing system consisted of hanging a single load cell to provide feed mass measurements. The image-based cow identification system (replacing Radio-Frequency Identification) entailed cameras installed above the feeding area and an image processing algorithm that recognized cows by their collar numbers. The new system worked within normal farm routines: the feed supplying truck distributed the animal feed, and a tractor cleaned feed residual. To validate the accuracy and convenience of the system and to rank the cows by their efficiency, an experiment with six scales and 12 cows was conducted in a research barn, succeeded by eight-scale system in a commercial farm with 16 cows. The feed intake of each cow participating in the experiments was monitored for one month. The validation experiment showed that the system had the following specification: scales were accurate within 120 g; the visual cow identification rate was greater than 96%; feeding duration was accurate to 52 s; and routine farm practices (feed distribution, pushing, and residual removal) continued as usual. The cost for a feeding station (utilized consequently for a number of cows) was about 1 500 USD. An example of application of the system to rank cows by their efficiency under commercial conditions was shown. The system can potentially be used for ranking cows by their efficiency in commercial facilities.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2021.100277 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Surgical Approaches to Pre-Auricular Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas Extending to the Temporal Bone.
Head Neck
January 2025
Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland Skull Base Unit, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Background: Standardized surgical approaches to advanced pre-auricular cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCC) are lacking.
Methods: Fifty-four patients who underwent lateral temporal bone resection (LTBR) for pre-auricular cSCC were grouped into "Levels" of increasing disease spread. Surgical approaches to achieve negative-margin resection were designed for each Level and replicated on cadaveric specimens.
Influence of HLA-B Leader (-21M/T) Dimorphism With Bw4/Bw6 Epitopes on Graft Versus Host Disease After Allogenic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in North Indians.
Int J Immunogenet
January 2025
Department of Clinical Haematology and Medical Oncology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.
High degree of variability in human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) system restricts availability of histocompatible HLA-matched-related donors, thus increasing reliance on worldwide bone marrow registries network. Nevertheless, due to limited coverage/accessibility/affordability of some ethnicities in these registries, haploidentical haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) emerged as an alternative option, though with allorecognition-mediated graft versus host disease (GvHD) (>40% cases). A dimorphism [-21 methionine (M) or threonine (T)] in HLA-B leader peptide (exon 1) which differentially influences its HLA-E binding, plausibly regulates natural killer cell functionality, affecting GvHD vulnerability and clinically in practice for donor selection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEditorial for "MRI Radiomics Analysis in the Diagnostic Differentiation of Malignant Soft Tissue Myxoid Sarcomas and Benign Soft Tissue Myxomas of the Musculoskeletal System".
J Magn Reson Imaging
January 2025
Section on Experimental Radiology, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
A cross-sectional study comparing passive and eccentric modes of an isokinetic dynamometer to assess eccentric torque in trained athletes: Methodological considerations.
Eur J Sport Sci
February 2025
Department of Sport and Health Sciences and Social Work, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
Some technical limitations to using the eccentric mode to measure peak eccentric strength of the hamstrings (PTH) were raised. PTH also has limited validity to predict performance or injury risk factor. Therefore, our aim was to compare PTH and other isokinetic variables tested in the eccentric and passive modes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise Identification of Native Peptides with Posttranslational Proline Hydroxylation by Nanopore.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
Nanjing University, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, No. 163 Xianlin Road, 210023, Nanjing, CHINA.
Hydroxylation, an extensive post-translational modification on proline, is critical for the modulation of protein structures, further dominating their functions in life systems. However, current mass spectrometry-based identification, could hardly distinguish hydroxylation from neighboring oxidation due to the same mass shifts, as well as challenges posed by low abundance and exogenous oxidation during sample preparation. To address these, an engineered nanopore was designed, capable of discriminating single hydroxyl group, to achieve the identification of proline hydroxylation on individual native peptides directly in the mixture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!