Arla UK 360 farmer owners can now adopt automated technology in place of human scoring to monitor cow mobility.

This latest update to the Arla UK 360 programme is a result of the 'Automated Outcome Measures Project' which took place on ten Arla farms, including Arla's dedicated UK Innovation Farm, over the past two years.

Recognising the potential that automated technology could have to the earlier identification of lameness, the project worked with Agsenze to test its 3D motion imaging HerdVision cameras. These use algorithmic-based data interpretation to track the movement of cows every time they travel down a race to or from the milking parlour, recording individual mobility and body condition scores automatically.

The trial worked with Arla UK 360 farmer owners to find ways of integrating the technology with existing on-farm EID systems, as well as finding optimum positioning, networking and scoring accuracy on a wide range of farm situations. Arla's UK 360 farmer owners were uniquely placed to take part in the project given their focus to continuously explore and develop new R&D projects and wider innovation to lead the dairy agenda of the future.

"Within the Arla UK 360 programme, we are always looking to develop innovative farming practices that can benefit everyone, so we were keen to test the impact that regular, automated mobility tracking technology could have on lameness prevention." explains Arla CARE, Farmer Owned, and Innovation Farm Manager, Rowan Boardley. "As well reducing labour input, this type of technology also provides standardised and objective scores which is beneficial from a health and welfare auditing perspective."

"We found that the cow mobility issues were flagged quickly, allowing farmers and vets to intervene at the earliest possible stage and prevent the development of acute cases of lameness. Arla's farmer owners taking part in the trial also reported the benefit of cows being monitored free from human interference, which can influence cow behaviour and make manual mobility scoring more challenging."

The Agsenze technology has been validated and approved for use by Arla UK 360 farmer owners who can now submit automated mobility scores in place of human scores if they wish, with scores being validated once a year by an external vet as part of their UK 360 audit.

"We are committed to investigating the use of new technology to help drive our industry forward, in a sustainable way," concludes Rowan. "We need to keep productive cows in their respective herds for as long as possible and using automated systems to help detect and prevent cases of lameness is just one of the ways we can help our dairy producers achieve this."

Farmer owners using other systems are being encouraged to contact Arla with a view to getting their technology validated for Arla UK 360 data submissions.