A scanning system combined with artificial intelligence is automatically assessing cows’ health status twice a day on dozens of “smart” dairy farms across the UK.
Overhead three-dimensional cameras film the animals’ backs as they leave the milking bam, while sensors read their individual identity tags. The associated computers then use machine learning to process the data, providing farmers with critical daily information about each cow’s weight, body condition and mobility. “We can detect certain health conditions, including lameness (跛行) , just by scanning the cows walking past, without even having to see their hooves (蹄子),” says Wenhao Zhang at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, UK.
While farmers are well trained to recognise such issues as early as possible, they often miss subtle, day-to-day changes in individual cows. Because they are a prey (猎物) species, cows will also naturally hide signs of discomfort, such as lameness, when they think they are being watched, says Melvyn Smith, who designed the system with Mark Hansen, both at UWE.
In an initial study of 200 dairy cows on one farm, Smith, Hansen and their colleagues placed a computer and 3D cameras in a milking bam. They aimed the cameras over an arrow walkway that cows pass through when they are finished milking. A near tag reader,set at the cows, head level, sets off the cameras to record. “The beauty of this equipment is that it’s just passively sitting there, unobserved by the animal,” says Smith. “And every time they go past — so every time they’re milked, which is usually twice a day — it’s gathering data.”
Kate Dutton-Regester at the University of Queensland in Australia says the system is “a great innovation”. “The dairy industry needs an automated, non-intrusive (非侵入式) monitoring system that can aid dairy farmers in observing the health of their herd in a timely and efficient manner, and this technology meets those criteria,” she says.
12. What can we know about the scanning system?
A.It was designed by Wenhao Zhang. |
B.It can monitor the health of the cows. |
C.It can help cure the lameness of the cows. |
D.It provides farms with farming information. |
13. Why are well-trained farmers mentioned in paragraph 3?
A.To compare different scanning devices. |
B.To demonstrate their high skills in farming. |
C.To stress the advantage of the scanning system. |
D.To introduce the operation of the scanning system. |
14. What is the highlight of the scanning system?
A.It includes a 3D camera. | B.It can gather data. |
C.It can’t be noticed by cows. | D.It is beautifully designed. |
15. What do Kate’s words imply?
A.The dairy industry needs improving. |
B.Well-trained farmers will be replaced. |
C.The scanning system has been widely used. |
D.The scanning system benefits the dairy industry. |