Use of an ear-tag accelerometer and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system for monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle

Simanungkalit, Gamaliel; Barwick, Jamie; Cowley, Frances; Dawson, Bradley; Dobos, Robin; Hegarty, Roger

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105491

Author(s)

Simanungkalit, Gamaliel

Barwick, Jamie

Cowley, Frances

Dawson, Bradley

Dobos, Robin

Hegarty, Roger

Publication Date

2021-11

Abstract

Monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle is a potential means for quantifying block supplement intake. The current study aimed to 1) evaluate the capability of an ear-tag accelerometer to identify the licking behaviour at a block supplement in grazing cattle and 2) validate individual licking state (LS) duration predicted by an accelerometer and radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. Four out of 12 Angus steers weighing 384 ± 9.7 kg (mean ± SD) were given free access to a 900 m<sup>2</sup> supplement yard with access to two RFID-equipped automatic supplement feeders provided daily from 15:00 to 18:00 h for 10 days. Each steer was fitted with an ear-tag containing a 3-axis accelerometer set at a frequency of 25 Hz. Accelerometer data were segmented into three window sizes (3, 5, and 10 s) and further processed using four machine learning (ML) algorithms: Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Logistic Regression (LR) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). The best performance in classifying licking behaviour was obtained from the combination of XGB and 10 s window size with an accuracy, Kappa coefficient, and F1 score of 93%, 0.88, and 0.88, respectively. Accelerometers and RFID systems consecutively under-predicted and over-predicted LS duration by 20% and 6%, with a mean absolute error (MAE) proportion of 22% and 10%, a ratio of root mean square prediction error (RSR) of 0.33 and 0.14 and a modelling efficiency (MEF) of 0.89 and 0.98. Overall, both the ear-tag accelerometer and RFID system was capable of monitoring the licking behaviour and LS duration of grazing cattle accessing block supplements.

Citation

Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v.244, p. 1-9

ISSN

1872-9045

0168-1591

Link

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/52805

Language

en

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Title

Use of an ear-tag accelerometer and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system for monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle

Type of document

Journal Article

Entity Type

Publication

Author(s)	Simanungkalit, Gamaliel Barwick, Jamie Cowley, Frances Dawson, Bradley Dobos, Robin Hegarty, Roger
Publication Date	2021-11
Abstract	Monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle is a potential means for quantifying block supplement intake. The current study aimed to 1) evaluate the capability of an ear-tag accelerometer to identify the licking behaviour at a block supplement in grazing cattle and 2) validate individual licking state (LS) duration predicted by an accelerometer and radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. Four out of 12 Angus steers weighing 384 ± 9.7 kg (mean ± SD) were given free access to a 900 m<sup>2</sup> supplement yard with access to two RFID-equipped automatic supplement feeders provided daily from 15:00 to 18:00 h for 10 days. Each steer was fitted with an ear-tag containing a 3-axis accelerometer set at a frequency of 25 Hz. Accelerometer data were segmented into three window sizes (3, 5, and 10 s) and further processed using four machine learning (ML) algorithms: Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Logistic Regression (LR) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). The best performance in classifying licking behaviour was obtained from the combination of XGB and 10 s window size with an accuracy, Kappa coefficient, and F1 score of 93%, 0.88, and 0.88, respectively. Accelerometers and RFID systems consecutively under-predicted and over-predicted LS duration by 20% and 6%, with a mean absolute error (MAE) proportion of 22% and 10%, a ratio of root mean square prediction error (RSR) of 0.33 and 0.14 and a modelling efficiency (MEF) of 0.89 and 0.98. Overall, both the ear-tag accelerometer and RFID system was capable of monitoring the licking behaviour and LS duration of grazing cattle accessing block supplements.
Citation	Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v.244, p. 1-9
ISSN	1872-9045 0168-1591
Link	https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/52805
Language	en
Publisher	Elsevier BV
Title	Use of an ear-tag accelerometer and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system for monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle
Type of document	Journal Article
Entity Type	Publication

Use of an ear-tag accelerometer and a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system for monitoring the licking behaviour in grazing cattle

Files: