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Smart dairy farms are using AI scanners to monitor cows' health

Technology being trialled on UK farms collects daily data on cows’ weight, body condition and mobility, helping to identify individuals in need of treatment

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

31 January 2023

Cows in a field

Technology may help to keep cows healthy

Alan Hopps/Moment RF/Getty Images

An overhead scanning system combined with artificial intelligence is automatically assessing cows’ health status twice a day on dozens of “smart” dairy farms across the UK.

3D cameras film the animals’ backs as they leave the milking barn, while sensors read their individual identity tags. The associated computers then use machine learning to process the data, providing critical daily information about each cow’s weight, body condition and mobility, says Wenhao Zhang at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, UK. …

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