Lameness is accepted as causing the biggest loss of income on dairy farms, and second only to mastitis as the leading cause of antibiotic use. It is also widely reported that lameness is under-diagnosed as in many studies ony 25% of lame cows are diagnosed. Observational detection is subjective, requires skill, and is time consuming so the low detection rates are understandable.

Technology, such as Cow Alert, has enabled automatic lameness scoring. Monitoring cows 24 hours per day, 7 days a week has resulted in a much higher detection rate. Indeed it often identifies lame cows at an earlier time than experienced stockpersons would. Thermal imaging cameras can be used to best effect to investigate the cause of lameness on these cows. They can differentiate between foul infections that require antibiotic treatment, and the majority of causes that don’t. Furthermore, thermal imaging can pinpoint the exact location of a sole ulcer enabling foot trimmers to be precise in their area of investigation. In early cases, it can even identify the lame foot, or establish that the cause of lameness is not in the foot.

The use of thermal imaging validates the lameness alerts of Cow Alert, and directs and motivates the stockman to treat the cow appropriately and at the earliest possible opportunity. It gives confidence that the hoof-knife is being used in the correct location, and will therefore locate ulcers/white line disease that would otherwise not be found. This improves animal wellbeing, reduces milk loss, and reduces the amount of antibiotics used.

The use of precision tools on dairy farms gives the farmer or manager the opportunity to make essential decisions in real time, in accordance with the information received from the animal or shelter. There is a SMART Zoo Tech system for monitoring microclimate parameters for measuring, logging, and monitoring the temperature, humidity, dew point, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, ammonia (NH3) and dust particles (PM 2.5) 24/7. The information is stored in the database available to the farmer, and the exceedances are sent to the farmer by mobile phone in the form of an alert. It is found that there is a very close correlation between individual cow production and microclimate parameters. On a hot summer day when the average atmospheric temperature was 34oC, in the shelter the temperature varied between 23.45oC at 4:00 am and 31.04oC at 5:00 pm. There were also fluctuations in relative humidity and ammonia levels in the shelter after 4:00 pm. The farmer received phone alerts for every microclimate parameter every hour in the second half of the day. With regard to milk production, it is known that for the dairy cow the optimum temperature range is between 9 and 16oC. During the observed period there was a decrease in milk production, and on the reference day the milk production was 10% lower than two days prior.