EU Project Launch: LAMENESS - A non-invasive System for the Automatic Detection of Cattle Lameness

POLYTECH S.A. in cooperation with BIOMECHANICAL SOLUTIONS – BME, will proceed with the design and implementation of the project “LAMENESS – Development of a non-invasive system for the automatic detection of cattle lameness” after submitting the research proposal which was approved by the ESPA 2014-2020 “Research-Create-Innovate” business program.

Proceedings Paper: View here https://www.mdpi.com/2732476

Scope

Lameness is a crucial welfare issue in the modern dairy cattle industry. Limb disorders cause serious welfare, health and economic problems especially in loose housing of cattle. Lameness causes losses in milk production and leads to early culling of animals. These costs could be reduced with early identification and treatment.

At present, the most common methods used for lameness detection and assessment are various visual locomotion scoring systems. The problem with locomotion scoring is that it needs experience to be conducted properly, it is labor intensive as an on-farm method and the results are subjective.

The purpose of this project is to develop an integrated system for early detection of lameness in cattle, using force plate gait analysis and pattern recognition techniques to identify changes in gait which indicate the onset of lameness. The system will be tested on natural onset of lameness in an organized farm environment.

Objective

The continuous increase in demand of animal products globally has resulted in the rapid development of animal production to increase livestock units of medium and large size. One of the major problems mainly generated in stabled animals is lameness.

Lameness is the deviation from normal walking due to disease or injury to a point of the limbs or torso, often accompanied by pain. In cattle, lameness can be caused by various diseases of the nervous and musculoskeletal system, injuries and accidents in both the trunk and the upper extremities.

The implementation of the project will be based on existing know-how acquired by project team members who have solved a more complex research problem, namely the identification of musculoskeletal problems in humans by walking, regardless of speed and external burden.

The development of this provision will enhance the welfare and productivity of cattle during their intensive farming. Dissemination of project results will help Greece maintain its competitiveness in the dairy market by increasing its production and technological development, by exporting new know-how to other EU countries that wish to address the problem of climates completely.

With this project, the business Partnership aims to create a new product that is missing from the international market. After intense search, there seems to be a great interest from livestock units for an early detection tool of cattle lameness, in order to avoid unnecessary costs affecting the smooth operation of the business. This system (Lameness) can penetrate the world market, making it a reliable system for detecting lameness in its early stages.