Comparison of three cow-side oestrus detection technologies to monitor the reproductive status of dairy cows

Reproductive failure remains one of the main reasons for culling in dairy herds worldwide. Prolonged inter-calving periods occasioned by either failure or delay in conceiving reduces the lifetime productivity of the cows and increases the herd replacement rate. Oestrus detection technologies have been shown to improve oestrus detection and conception rates and reduce inter-calving periods, maximising productivity. Three cow-side oestrus detection tools (ODT) were evaluated and compared for degree of agreement, effectiveness and robustness. The three ODT selected for investigation were CowAlert®, (IceRobotics, UK), a cow activity monitoring platform, Estrotect™ (Rockway Inc, USA), a scratch card-based mount detector and P4 Rapid (Ridgeway Sciences, UK), a lateral flow technique based on milk progesterone. The three tools differed in their ability to detect oestrus as well as differences in performance. P4 Rapid emerged the most effective while Estrotect™ was found to be the least effective in detecting oestrus. The effectiveness of the tools was not affected by production or health factors such as nutritional status or lameness, milk yield and body weight, but was influenced by parity and stage of lactation.