In this study, cow reticulorumen content pH and temperature together with the activity were registered using smaXtec boluses, specially designed for animal care. Body weight, rumination time, milk fat/protein ratio, milk yield, milk lactose, milk electrical conductivity, milk somatic cell count and consumption of concentrated feed were registered by Lely Astronaut^® A3 milking robots. The cows in this study were assigned into two groups according to the milk lactose concentration: group 1—milk lactose < 4.70% (n = 20), group 2—milk lactose ≥ 4.70% (n = 15). The following cows were further classified according to milk fat and protein ratio: F/P < 1.2 (class 1), F/P = 1.2 (class 2) and F/P > 1.2 (class 3). According to our results, we can conclude that inline registered milk lactose concentration can be used to indicate the health status and reproductive success of fresh dairy cows. Cows with an increased lactose concentration (≥4.70%) showed more activity (54.47%) and had less risk of mastitis (determined by lower milk electrical conductivity (EC) and somatic cell counts (SCC)) and metabolic disorders, determined by milk F/P. A higher glucose concentration was also apparent in the cows with higher lactose concentration. Registered lower levels of milk lactose can be used for early identification of metabolic disorders and mastitis (set at milk SCC ≥ 100 thousand/mL). Lactose levels in cows’ milk were positively associated with their reproductive success.

The aim of the present study is to determine the relationship between subclinical mastitis and rumination behavior registered with an online sensor system. Based on the findings of the general clinical examination of 650 milking cows, 10 cows with subclinical mastitis (SCM) and 10 clinically healthy cows (HG) were selected (without clinical signs of any diseases). Rumination behavior biomarkers were registered with RumiWatch noseband sensors (RWS; ITIN + HOCH GmbH, Fütterungstechnik, Liestal, Switzerland). Sensors were implanted on the first day after calving. Data from the RWS 13 days before diagnosis of SCM and 13 days after diagnosis of SCM were compared with HG data from the same period. Healthy cows were checked alongside SCM cows on the same days. In our study, we found that healthy cows spent more time engaging in rumination and drinking (p < 0.05) and also had more boluses per rumination. Moreover, among cows with subclinical mastitis, rumination time from day 4 to day 0 decreased by 60.91%, drinking time decreased by 48.47%, and the number of boluses per rumination decreased by 8.67% (p < 0.05). The results indicate that subclinical affects time and rumination chews registered with sensor systems. However, additional studies with larger numbers of animals are required to confirm these results. Furthermore, the impact of heat stress, estrus, and other effects on rumination behavior biomarkers should be evaluated.

We hypothesized that lameness in fresh dairy cows (1–30 days after calving) has an impact on attributes of feeding registered with a noseband sensor. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of lameness in fresh dairy cows on attributes of feeding (registered with the RumiWatch noseband sensor): rumination time (RT), drinking time (DT), eating time (ET), rumination chews (RC), eating chews (EC), chews per minute (CM), drinking gulps (DG), bolus count (B), and chews per bolus (CB). The measurement registration was started at the first day after calving and continued until 30 days after calving. There were 20 Lithuanian black and white breed cows selected. Lameness diagnosis was performed by trained staff based on a locomotion score system and it was diagnosed on average on the 15th day after calving. The causes of lameness were categorized as sole ulcer, abscess and foot rot. Special attention was paid to attributes of feeding registered 14 days before and 13 days after diagnosis. The 10 lame cows (LG) used in this experiment had a lameness score of 3–4 presented with severe lameness: they were reluctant to move and unwilling to complete weight transfer off the affected limb. The 10 healthy cows (HG) were given a lameness score of 1. We found that lameness of fresh dairy cows has an impact on inline registered ingestive behaviors biomarkers—the mean RT of HG cows was as much as 2.19 times higher than that of LG cows on the day of diagnosis of lameness, later this difference between the groups decreased to the sixth day of treatment, then increased again and decreased at the end of the experiment. The lowest eating time was found on diagnosis day and the highest on the ninth day before determination of lameness. Drinking time was higher in the HG group, with the exception of 10 and 9 days prior to clinical signs of disease in LG cows. A downward trend in rumination chews was observed in LG cows from day 7 until the onset of clinical symptoms. The bolus count decreased from day 3 before diagnosis to day 1 after diagnosis in LG cows. The largest difference in this indicator between groups was found on day of diagnosis. Analysing the pattern of CM values in the LG group, we found a decrease from 10 days before to 2 days after diagnosis. The CB value was almost the same in both groups of cows at the end of the experiment, but largest difference between the groups was found on day 7 after clinical sings of lameness.

In this study we hypothesized that the lameness of early lactation dairy cows would have an impact on inline biomarkers, such as rumination time (RT), milk fat (%), milk protein (%), milk fat/protein ratio (F/P), milk lactose (L, %), milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, body weight (BW), temperature of reticulorumen content (TRR), pH of reticulorumen content (pH), and walking activity (activity). All 30 lame cows (LCs) used in this experiment had a score of 3–4, identified according to the standard procedure of Sprecher et al. The 30 healthy cows (HC) showed a lameness score of one. RT, milk fat, MY, milk protein, F/P, L, milk electrical conductivity of all udder quarters, and BW were registered using Lely Astronaut^® A3 milking robots each time the cow was being milked. The TRR, cow activity, and pH of the contents of each cow’s reticulorumen were registered using specific smaXtec boluses. The study lasted a total of 28 days. Days “−14” to “−1” denote the days of the experimental period before the onset of clinical signs of lameness (day “0”), and days “1” to “13” indicate the period after the start of treatment. We found that from the ninth day before the diagnosis of laminitis until the end of our study, LCs had higher milk electrical conductivity in all udder quarters, and higher milk fat to protein ratios. On the 3rd day before the onset of clinical signs of the disease until the day of diagnosis, the milk fat of the LC group was reduced. The activity of the LCs decreased sharply from the second day to the first day after treatment. RT in the HC group tended to decrease during the experiment. pH in LCs also increased on the day of the appearance of clinical signs.

Rumination time, chewing time and drinking time are indicators that can be assessed in case of cow disease. In this research, two groups of cows were formed: cows with subclinical ketosis (SCK; n = 10) and healthy cows (HG; n = 10). Behaviour such as walking activity, feeding time with head position up, feeding time with head position down, change of activity and average, minimal and maximal ambient temperature of cows were recorded by the RumiWatch noseband system (RWS; RumiWatch System, Itin+Hoch GmbH, Liestal, Switzerland). The RWS comprises a noseband halter with a built-in pressure sensor and a liquid-filled pressure tube. Data from each studied cow were recorded for 420 h. According to the results of our study, it was determined that cows diagnosed with subclinical ketosis showed a tendency to change their activity more frequently. Our data indicates that minimal and maximal ambient temperatures are related with SCK.

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the relation of automatically determined body condition score (BCS) and inline biomarkers such as β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), milk yield (MY), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and progesterone (mP4) with the pregnancy success of cows. The cows (n = 281) had 2.1 ± 0.1. lactations on average, were 151.6 ± 0.06 days postpartum, and were once tested with “Easy scan” ultrasound (IMV imaging, Scotland) at 30–35 d post-insemination. According to their reproductive status, cows were grouped into two groups: non-pregnant (n = 194 or 69.0% of cows) and pregnant (n = 87 or 31.0% of cows). Data concerning their BCS, mP4, MY, BHB, and LDH were collected each day from the day of insemination for 7 days. The BCS was collected with body condition score camera (DeLaval Inc., Tumba, Sweden); mP4, MY, BHB, and LDH were collected with the fully automated real-time analyzer Herd Navigator™ (Lattec I/S, Hillerød, Denmark) in combination with a DeLaval milking robot (DeLaval Inc., Tumba, Sweden). Of all the biomarkers, three differences between groups were significant. The body condition score (BCS) of the pregnant cows was higher (+0.49 score), the milk yield (MY) was lower (−4.36 kg), and milk progesterone in pregnant cows was (+6.11 ng/mL) higher compared to the group of non-pregnant cows (p < 0.001). The pregnancy status of the cows was associated with their BCS assessment (p < 0.001). We estimated that cows with BCS > 3.2 were 22 times more likely to have reproductive success than cows with BCS ≤ 3.2.