The Use of Pedometers as Supervision Tools for Cows and Mares in the Prepartal Period

摘要

To assess the practical use of pedometers as supervision tools in the prepartal period,IceQube(R)-and ALT-sensors were tested on mares and cows.Animals were fitted with one pedometer type on the left and the other one on the right front leg,and in case of 7 mares also with an IceQube(R)on a neck collar.Motion activity,lying times and lying bouts were measured in the time period 10 days ante partum.Function and animal acceptance of the devices,and the informative value and the general use of the assessed data to predict the date of parturition,were mvestigated.Therefore.deviations in the animals' behavior were statistically determined by estimating Least-Squares-Means (LSM)for hours with 4 records each hour,and differences of these LSM between days ante partum for each respective hour (eL = 0.05 ).The LSM-differences for motion activity in horses showed a highly significant increase 1-2 hours ante partum.Cows also showed a significant increase in motion activity during the last prepartal hours; however,with a higher variability in reference data.Therefore.the parameter is less predictive for cattle.Lying time,both for mares and cows,showed to be of less informative value.In mares.movements of the head and the neck,measured by the device on the neck collar,increased significantly in the last prepartal hours.We suggest that this parameter could have a high predictive value.In both species,the number of lying bouts increased significantly prior to parturition.We propose a high potential of pedometers' use as supervision tools in the prepartal period of mares and cows for both examined pedometer types.However.technic and software have to be adapted and improved.