Detection of Parturition of Rangeland Beef Cattle Using Gps and Accelerometer Data

Abstract Detection of parturition of rangeland cows remotely may be possible using low cost LoRa WAN monitoring systems that are capable of logging and transmitting cow activity and position data in real time. This study evaluated candidate algorithms for early detection of parturition using longitudinal data of cow activity and position collected by GPS and triaxial accelerometers. Trials were conducted at the USDA Jornada Experimental Range from November to December 2022. Five Raramuri Criollo and five Angus x Hereford mature cows were equipped with LoRa WAN tracking collars instrumented with GPS and triaxial accelerometers and monitored through late gestation (> 7 months) while grazing rangeland pastures of 1,230 and 2,200 ha, respectively. Animal location (latitude and longitude) and activity count (Ac) obtained from GPS and accelerometers data, respectively, were collected by receiving stations that transmitted data in real time through a LoRa WAN network. Collars transmitted GPS positions at one-hour intervals and Ac data at two-minute intervals. An operator routinely inspected focal cows in herds to register parturition within approximately 12 h accuracy. Sensor data for 21 days prior to calving were processed to calculate distance traveled (m/h) and activity rate (Ac/h). For each hour interval, the adjusted activity Index IN = activity/distance (Ac/m) was computed to disentangle motion changes not associated with walking activity. Two algorithms were tested. The first considered the temporal deviation (D) of IN for a given hour (X0), compared with the average IN of the same hour in the previous seven days: D = INX0 /(INX-1+ INX-2 + …+ INX-7)/7). The second considered the normalized probability (N) of D for a given hour (X0) compared with the same hour over the previous seven days: N = (INX0-(INX-1+ INX-2 + …+ INX-7)/7)/sd.(INX-0, INX-1, …, INX-7). A threshold for high probability of calving was set when at least three consecutive hours with D >3 or N >0.95 were detected. Both algorithms correctly triggered alerts on actual calving days. Thus, lack of detection or false detections of calving indicated that the sensitivity and specificity for calving detection were both 100%. The normalized method (N) triggered delayed calving alerts in two cases. Furthermore, greater (P < 0.05) number of consecutive hours with D > 3 (5.6 ± 2.1) around actual calving time were detected vs. the number of consecutive hours with N > 0.95 (3.9 ± 1.2), suggesting that the former algorithm was also able to detect longer duration of behaviors associated with calving. Results indicate possibilities for remote detection of the onset and duration of calving behavior (parturition + first nursing hours) of beef cows managed on large rangeland pastures that impose operational challenges for visual inspection of cows during calving. Further tests with a greater number of cows and management systems would be needed to confirm this hypothesis.