Repeatabilities of individual measure of feed intake and body weight on in-house commercial dairy cattle using a 3D camera system.

In this study a 3D camera system was setup to measure individual feed intake of dairy cows in a commercial in house setting. The system was developed to both identify the cows while eating, predicting body weight based on the curvature of the back of the cow as well as to quantify the amount of feed eaten by the cow at each visit of eating. The identification of the cow was based on recognizing the patterns, colors and curvatures of the back from a reference database obtained in a corridor after milking, where images were taken of all cows with a simultaneous reading of the electronic eartag. Also the body weight is predicted using the curvatures of the back of the cow. Feed intake is quantified as the difference in surface of the feed a cow can reach before and after a visit is initiated. This estimate is in liter but transferred to kilos knowing the density of the feed in the specific herd. A total of 9142 cows were measured in 19 herds across 3 breeds - Jersey (2513 cows), Red Dairy cattle (2813 cows) and Holstein (3816 cows). Mean daily feed intake was higher for Red Dairy cattle (61.72 kg) and Holstein (64.59 kg) than for Jersey (55.74 kg). Repeatability estimates for daily feed intake as a weekly average was 0.62, 0.65 and 0.63 for Jersey, Red Dairy cattle and Holstein respectively. Mean body weight was higher for Red Dairy cattle (647.9 kg) and Holstein (683.8 kg) than for Jersey (469.6 kg). Repeatability estimates for body weight as a weekly average was 0.83, 0.85 and 0.88 for Jersey, Red Dairy cattle and Holstein respectively. The perspectives in having such records available is huge both for the farmer and for the dairy industry. The records can both be used for improving management in farms on an individual cow level and herd level, but also for genetic evaluation and selection as well as testing feeding regimens. Feed intake can be measured on an individual level using a 3D camera system.

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© 2023, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. and Fass Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).