This project aimed to evaluate a novel method for monitoring the health of grazing cattle. The method studied in this paper is based on an unmanned, automatic precision weighing system that can be used on pasture, and which will alarm farmers when animals show abnormal weight gain curves. The project focused primarily on the detection of pasture-borne nematode parasite infections, which clearly reduce the weight gain of calves, but the method could be further developed to include other diseases that impair animal performance. The early detection of nematode infections would both improve animal welfare and minimize the use of anthelmintics. This study included a total of 63 first season grazing steers born from dairy cows that were allocated to one of two permanent semi-natural pasture enclosures for 20 weeks. Both enclosures had two identical scales except that one scale was powered with line current and one scale was equipped with solar panels. The automatic weighing stations were situated in close proximity to a source of water, salt and minerals so that animals would voluntarily pass through them on a regular basis. LiveStock Planner^Ⓡ software was used to identify usable data. The number of usable recordings per animal throughout the grazing season varied from 547 to 2677 amongst the four weighing stations, with an average of five usable recordings per animal obtained each week. The herds were guided to the weighing area on a daily basis during the first eight weeks of the grazing period to ensure that the steers received enough water. After this period, manual observations were used to verify that all animals entered the watering area without problems. The findings showed that the weighing technique worked well; hence, the developed method demonstrates great potential as an automatic supervision tool for grazing cattle. However, even though the summer of 2016 was quite dry, there was still water available in ditches and puddles. Accordingly, water alone was not a strong enough motivation to get cattle to pass through the weighing station into the watering area. Hence, in grazing areas with natural water sources, a reward more attractive than the water, salt and minerals used in this study is needed to ensure frequent voluntary passage of cattle through the scales.

该项目旨在评估一种监测放牧牛健康的新方法。本文研究的方法基于可在牧场上使用的无人自动精密称重系统，当动物的体重增加曲线出现异常时，它将警告农民。该项目主要侧重于检测牧场传播的线虫寄生虫感染，这种感染明显减少了犊牛的增重，但是该方法可以进一步开发以包括其他损害动物性能的疾病。线虫感染的早期发现既可以改善动物福利，又可以减少驱虫药的使用。这项研究包括总共63头由奶牛出生的第一季放牧zing牛，将它们分配给两个永久性半天然牧场之一，持续20周。两个外壳都有两个相同的秤，除了一个秤由线电流供电，另一个秤装有太阳能电池板。自动称重站紧邻水，盐和矿物质的源头，因此动物会定期自动通过它们。LiveStock策划师^Ⓡ软件被用来识别可用数据。在四个称重站之间，整个放牧季节中每只动物的可用记录数量在547至2677之间变化，每周平均每只动物获得5个可用记录。在放牧期的前八周内，每天将牛群引导到称重区，以确保公牛获得足够的水。在这段时间之后，使用人工观察来验证所有动物都没有问题地进入浇水区。研究结果表明称重技术效果很好。因此，所开发的方法作为自动监控牛放牧工具具有巨大的潜力。但是，即使2016年夏天非常干燥，沟渠和水坑中仍然有水可用。因此，光靠水还不足以促使牛通过称重站进入浇水区。因此，在具有天然水源的放牧地区，需要有比本研究中使用的水，盐和矿物质更具吸引力的奖励，以确保牲畜经常自愿通过秤。