1Departamento de Zootecnia,Escola de Veterinária,Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,31270-901 Belo Horizonte,Minas Gerais,Brazil.
2CNPq,RHAE - SEVA Engenharia,Projeto Intergado,32280-300 Contagem,Minas Gerais,Brazil.
Animal. 2018 Mar;12(3):634-639. doi: 10.1017/S1751731117002002. Epub 2017 Aug 18.
The objective of this study was to validate an electronic system for monitoring individual feeding and drinking behaviour and intake developed for young cattle housed in group. A total of 35 Holstein-Gyr crossbred heifers (BW: 180±52 kg; age: 121.5±32.5 days), fitted with an ear tag containing a unique passive transponder, were distributed in three groups of 12, 12 and 11 animals per period and had free access to 12 electronic feed bins and two electronic water bins (Intergado® Ltd). The dimensions of feed and water bins, as well as the sensors position were appropriate for young cattle. The system documented the visit frequency and duration, as well as the feed and water intakes, by recording the animal's identification tag, bin number, initial and final times of visits and the difference of feed/water weight at the start and end of each bin visit. Feed bins were monitored using time-lapse video recording over 4 days and the water bins were monitored over 6 days. For each feed bin, two feeding events were monitored using manual weighings with an external scale immediately before and after the animal's visit and the difference between them was assumed as feed intake (n=24 observations). For the water bins, 60 manual weighings were made. Video and manual weighing data were regressed on the electronic feeding and drinking behaviour and intake data to evaluate the system's precision and accuracy. The system showed high specificity (98.98% and 98.56% for the feed and water bins, respectively) and sensitivity (99.25% and 98.74%, respectively) for identifying an animal's presence or absence. Duration of feed and water bin visits as well as feed and water consumption per visit estimated by the system were highly correlated and precise compared with the observed video and manual weighing data (r 2=0.917, 0.963, 0.973 and 0.986, respectively). It was concluded that Intergado® system is a useful tool for monitoring feeding and drinking behaviour as well as water and feed intakes in young cattle housed in groups.
本研究旨在验证一种用于监测群体饲养的年轻牛个体采食和饮水行为及采食量的电子系统。共有 35 头荷斯坦-盖尔杂交小母牛（BW：180±52kg；年龄：121.5±32.5 天），每个小母牛的耳朵上都佩戴一个含有唯一被动应答器的耳标，被分为 3 组，每组 12、12 和 11 头，可自由进入 12 个电子饲料箱和 2 个电子水箱（Intergado® Ltd）。饲料和水箱的尺寸以及传感器的位置都适合小牛。该系统通过记录动物的识别标签、料箱和水箱编号、访问的初始和结束时间以及每次访问开始和结束时料箱和水箱中饲料/水重量的差异，记录访问频率和持续时间以及饲料和水的摄入量。使用延时视频记录监测饲料箱 4 天，监测水箱 6 天。对于每个饲料箱，在动物访问前后立即使用外部秤进行两次手动称重，并假设两者之间的差值为饲料摄入量（n=24 次观测）。对于水箱，进行了 60 次手动称重。将视频和手动称重数据与电子采食和饮水行为及采食量数据进行回归，以评估系统的精度和准确性。该系统对识别动物的存在或缺失具有很高的特异性（分别为 98.98%和 98.56%）和敏感性（分别为 99.25%和 98.74%）。系统估计的料箱和水箱访问持续时间以及每次访问的饲料和水消耗量与观察到的视频和手动称重数据高度相关且精确（r 2分别为 0.917、0.963、0.973 和 0.986）。结论认为，Intergado®系统是监测群体饲养的年轻牛采食和饮水行为以及水和饲料摄入量的有用工具。
