SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING ANIMAL BODY SURFACE AREA AND SUBSEQUENTLY DETERMINING ANIMAL HEALTH STATUS

摘要

The invention includes a system to determine body surface area (BSA) or volume of an animal that can be used to determine a health status of the animal. The system has a plurality of integrated measuring devices such as radar or infrared sensors. The measuring devices are mounted within a confined space. A plurality of measurements is taken along vertically oriented sections or slices of the animal as the animal passes by the confined space. The measurements are combined and numerically converted to BSA or volume estimations. The health status can be derived as a direct relation to BSA or volume, or changes in BSA or volume over a selected time period.