Saitoh Tomoko, Kato Yuko
Field Center of Animal Science and Agriculture, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro 080-8555, Japan.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Sep 7;11(9):2622. doi: 10.3390/ani11092622.
Understanding cattle behavior is important for discerning their health and management status. However, manual observations of cattle are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Moreover, during manual observations, the presence or position of a human observer may alter the normal behavior of the cattle. Wearable cameras are small and lightweight; therefore, they do not disturb cattle behavior when attached to their bodies. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the suitability of wearable cameras for monitoring and analyzing cattle behavior. From December 18 to 27, 2017, this study used four 2-month-old, group-housed Holstein calves at the Field Science Center of the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan. Calf behavior was recorded every 30 s using a wearable camera (HX-A1H, Panasonic, Japan) from 10:00 to 15:30 and observed directly from 11:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 15:00. In addition, the same observer viewed the camera recordings corresponding to the direct observation periods, and the results were compared. The correlation coefficients of all behavioral data from direct and wearable camera video observations were significant ( < 0.01). We conclude that wearable cameras are suitable for observing calf behavior, particularly their posture (standing or lying), as well as their ruminating and feeding behaviors.
了解牛的行为对于判断它们的健康和管理状况很重要。然而，对牛进行人工观察既耗时又费力。此外，在人工观察期间，人类观察者的存在或位置可能会改变牛的正常行为。可穿戴式摄像头体积小、重量轻；因此，将它们附着在牛身上时不会干扰牛的行为。因此，本研究旨在评估可穿戴式摄像头用于监测和分析牛行为的适用性。2017年12月18日至27日，本研究在日本带广畜产大学田间科学中心使用了4头2月龄、群居的荷斯坦犊牛。从10:00至15:30，使用可穿戴式摄像头（HX-A1H，松下，日本）每30秒记录一次犊牛行为，并在11:00至12:00以及14:00至15:00进行直接观察。此外，同一名观察者查看了与直接观察期相对应的摄像头记录，并对结果进行了比较。直接观察和可穿戴式摄像头视频观察的所有行为数据的相关系数均具有显著性（<0.01）。我们得出结论，可穿戴式摄像头适用于观察犊牛行为，特别是它们的姿势（站立或躺卧）以及反刍和进食行为。
