What are sheep doing? Tri‐axial accelerometer sensor data identify the diel activity pattern of ewe lambs on pasture

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dc.contributor.authorIkurior, S.J.
dc.contributor.authorMarquetoux, N.
dc.contributor.authorLeu, S.T.
dc.contributor.authorCorner‐thomas, R.A.
dc.contributor.authorScott, I.
dc.contributor.authorPomroy, W.E.
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractMonitoring activity patterns of animals offers the opportunity to assess individual health and welfare in support of precision livestock farming. The purpose of this study was to use a triaxial accelerometer sensor to determine the diel activity of sheep on pasture. Six Perendale ewe lambs, each fitted with a neck collar mounting a triaxial accelerometer, were filmed during targeted periods of sheep activities: grazing, lying, walking, and standing. The corresponding acceleration data were fitted using a Random Forest algorithm to classify activity (=classifier). This classifier was then applied to accelerometer data from an additional 10 ewe lambs to determine their activity budgets. Each of these was fitted with a neck collar mounting an accelerometer as well as two additional accelerometers placed on a head halter and a body harness over the shoulders of the animal. These were monitored continuously for three days. A classification accuracy of 89.6% was achieved for the grazing, walking and resting activities (i.e., a new class combining lying and standing activity). Triaxial accelerometer data showed that sheep spent 64% (95% CI 55% to 74%) of daylight time grazing, with grazing at night reduced to 14% (95% CI 8% to 20%). Similar activity budgets were achieved from the halter mounted sensors, but not those on a body harness. These results are consistent with previous studies directly observing daily activity of pasture-based sheep and can be applied in a variety of contexts to investigate animal health and welfare metrics e.g., to better understand the impact that young sheep can suffer when carrying even modest burdens of parasitic nematodes.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilitySeer J. Ikurior, Nelly Marquetoux, Stephan T. Leu, Rene A. Corner-Thomas, Ian Scott and William E. Pomroy
dc.identifier.citationSensors, 2021; 21(20):6816-1-6816-16
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/s21206816
dc.identifier.issn1424-8220
dc.identifier.issn1424-8220
dc.identifier.orcidLeu, S.T. [0000-0003-2547-5056]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/133892
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherMDPI AG
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE170101132
dc.rights© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/s21206816
dc.subjectSheep; diel activity; classification algorithm; tri-axial accelerometers; health monitoring
dc.subject.meshAcceleration
dc.subject.meshAccelerometry
dc.subject.meshAlgorithms
dc.subject.meshAnimals
dc.subject.meshFarms
dc.subject.meshFemale
dc.subject.meshSheep
dc.subject.meshWalking
dc.titleWhat are sheep doing? Tri‐axial accelerometer sensor data identify the diel activity pattern of ewe lambs on pasture
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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