1Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry,Christian-Albrechts-University,Olshausenstr. 40,24098 Kiel,Germany.
2Linz Center of Mechatronics GmbH,Altenberger Street 69,4040 Linz,Austria.
Animal. 2016 Jun;10(6):970-7. doi: 10.1017/S175173111500302X. Epub 2016 Jan 6.
Lameness is an important issue in group-housed sows. Automatic detection systems are a beneficial diagnostic tool to support management. The aim of the present study was to evaluate data of a positioning system including acceleration measurements to detect lameness in group-housed sows. Data were acquired at the Futterkamp research farm from May 2012 until April 2013. In the gestation unit, 212 group-housed sows were equipped with an ear sensor to sample position and acceleration per sow and second. Three activity indices were calculated per sow and day: path length walked by a sow during the day (Path), number of squares (25×25 cm) visited during the day (Square) and variance of the acceleration measurement during the day (Acc). In addition, data on lameness treatments of the sows and a weekly lameness score were used as reference systems. To determine the influence of a lameness event, all indices were analysed in a linear random regression model. Test day, parity class and day before treatment had a significant influence on all activity indices (P<0.05). In healthy sows, indices Path and Square increased with increasing parity, whereas variance slightly decreased. The indices Path and Square showed a decreasing trend in a 14-day period before a lameness treatment and to a smaller extent before a lameness score of 2 (severe lameness). For the index acceleration, there was no obvious difference between the lame and non-lame periods. In conclusion, positioning and acceleration measurements with ear sensors can be used to describe the activity pattern of sows. However, improvements in sampling rate and analysis techniques should be made for a practical application as an automatic lameness detection system.
跛行是群体饲养母猪的一个重要问题。自动检测系统是支持管理的有益诊断工具。本研究的目的是评估包括加速度测量在内的定位系统的数据，以检测群体饲养母猪的跛行。数据是在 2012 年 5 月至 2013 年 4 月在 Futterkamp 研究农场采集的。在妊娠单元中，212 头群体饲养母猪配备了一个耳传感器，以每秒每头母猪的方式采样位置和加速度。每头母猪和每天计算三个活动指数：母猪白天行走的路径长度（Path）、白天访问的方块数（25×25cm）（Square）和白天加速度测量的方差（Acc）。此外，还使用母猪跛行治疗数据和每周跛行评分作为参考系统。为了确定跛行事件的影响，所有指数均在线性随机回归模型中进行分析。测试日、胎次类别和治疗前一天对所有活动指数都有显著影响（P<0.05）。在健康母猪中，指数 Path 和 Square 随胎次的增加而增加，而方差略有下降。在跛行治疗前 14 天和跛行评分 2 分（严重跛行）前，指数 Path 和 Square 呈下降趋势。对于加速度指数，跛行和非跛行期间没有明显差异。总之，耳传感器的定位和加速度测量可用于描述母猪的活动模式。然而，为了将其作为自动跛行检测系统实际应用，应改进采样率和分析技术。
