Increasing reliance on automated systems on-farm has led to a need for remote monitoring of health and welfare. We aimed to validate 2 methods that could be integrated into automated systems currently in use: infrared thermography (IRT) to measure respiration rate (RR), and accelerometers to measure the flinch, step, kick (FSK) response and assessing stress and discomfort. We monitored 22 multiparous, nonlactating, Friesian and Friesian × Jersey cows (average 5.1 yr of age) during a baseline period (2 min), a restraint in a crush (2 min), and then a recovery period after exposure to a startle (2 min). We measured RR with continuous IRT imaging of airflow through the nostrils and by counting flank movements from video and live recordings. We recorded heart rate (HR) and HR variability using HR monitors, and we recorded FSK from continuous video analysis of leg movements and indirectly using accelerometers attached to both hind legs. The FSK response was scored between 1 and 4 based on the height and direction of each leg movement. We observed no change in RR, HR variability, or FSK in response to the startle; however, HR increased briefly by 10 bpm. Bland-Altman plots indicated good agreement between the different methods of measuring RR, with average differences of -0.01 ± 0.87, 0.83 ± 0.57, and 0.37 ± 1.02 breaths/min for video versus live, IRT versus live and IRT versus video, respectively. Acceleration was also highly correlated with FSK scores of ≤3 (R2 = 0.96) and ≤2 (R2 = 0.89) and moderately correlated with FSK scores of 1 (R2 = 0.66) over the 4-min sampling period. The results show that accelerometers can provide an indirect measure of the FSK response, and IRT can be used reliably to measure RR. With further development, both technologies could be integrated into existing systems for remote monitoring of dairy cows' health and welfare on-farm.

Pigs typically experience various environmental stressors, which can negatively affect performance. Cortisol concentrations and various immune and performance measures are influenced by breed, but few data exist describing the impact of breed on stress responsiveness in pigs. The objective of this experiment was to determine if certain physiological responses to chronic stressors differed among 3 breeds and 2 commercial lines of pigs. The pigs were Landrace (n = 36), Meishan (n = 30), Yorkshire (n = 32), or 1 of 2 commercial lines (Line-A and Line-B; both n = 36). All pigs were weaned at 17 to 21 d and kept in a common nursery. At 49 d of age, pigs were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: stress (heat, crowding, and mixing) or control (no stress treatment). Pigs were allocated to groups of 3 pigs per pen of the same sex. Control pigs were kept with their littermates. At the onset of the experiment, stressed pigs were mixed with 2 unfamiliar pigs once, and heat and crowding stressors were implemented simultaneously for 14 d. Pigs allocated to the stress treatment were video-recorded for 24 h following initiation of mixing to determine social status: dominant, intermediate, or submissive. Blood samples were taken at d 0 (baseline), 1, 7, and 14 to assess cortisol concentrations and immune measures. Breed and treatment affected cortisol, immune, and performance measures, but no significant breed × treatment interactions were found. In general, pigs subjected to the chronic stressor had lower (P < 0.001) BW and ADG (P < 0.001) than did control pigs. Plasma cortisol was lower (P < 0.001) among stressed pigs at d 7 and 14. Regardless of breed, lipopolysaccharide-induced proliferation (P < 0.01) and natural killer (NK; P < 0.005) cytotoxicity were greater in stressed pigs compared with controls. Furthermore, among stressed pigs, dominant pigs had a greater total white blood cell count (P < 0.005), NK (P < 0.05), and phagocytosis (P < 0.05) than the subordinate pigs. The results indicate that pig breed did not influence the physiological responses to the chronic concurrent stressors imposed for 14 d in this study, but social status did influence the immune responsiveness of these pigs to heat, crowding, and mixing.

We determined if feeding and lying behavior, recorded by automatic calf feeding systems (ACFS) and accelerometers, could be used to detect changes in behavior before onset of neonatal calf diarrhea (NCD) or in response to disbudding pain in dairy calves. At 4 d of age, 112 calves had accelerometers attached to their hind leg and were housed in pens with ACFS. Calves were examined daily for signs of illness or injury. Of the 112 calves monitored, 18 were diagnosed with NCD; activities of calves with NCD were then compared with those of 18 healthy controls (calves that had no symptoms of NCD, other illnesses, or injury). Feeding (milk consumption and the number of rewarded and unrewarded visits to the feeder) and lying behavior during the 5 d leading up to calves displaying clinical signs of NCD were analyzed. Calves with NCD performed fewer unrewarded visits and consumed less milk than healthy calves during the 2- and 4-d periods before diagnosis with NCD, respectively. Calves with NCD tended to perform fewer lying bouts than healthy calves over the 5-d period before diagnosis with NCD. At 3 wk of age, a subset of 51 healthy calves were allocated to 1 of 5 treatment groups: (1) sham handling (SHAM, n = 10), (2) cautery disbudding (DB, n = 11), (3) administration of local anesthetic (LA) and DB (LA+DB, n = 11), 4) administration of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and DB (NSAID+DB, n = 9), and (5) administration of LA, NSAID and DB (LA+NSAID+DB, n = 10). Feeding and lying behavior were recorded continuously for 24 h pre- and postdisbudding. We found no effect of treatment on the number of rewarded or unrewarded visits to the feeder and milk volume consumed 24 h before administration of treatments. During the 24-h postdisbudding period, SHAM calves performed more unrewarded visits than DB, LA+DB, and NSAID+DB calves, but the number of unrewarded visits did not differ between SHAM and LA+NSAID+DB calves. During the first hour of the posttreatment period we noted a difference in lying times among treatments, with DB and NSAID+DB calves spending less time lying than SHAM calves and lying times being similar between SHAM, LA+DB, and LA+NSAID+DB calves. The ACFS and accelerometers have the potential to automatically gather valuable information regarding health status and pain in calves. Therefore, it may be advantageous to combine both of these measures (ACFS and accelerometers) when evaluating NCD on farm or pain in calves in future research.

Tail docking of piglets is a routine procedure on farms to control tail-biting behaviour; however, docking can cause an acute stress response. The objectives of this research were to determine the stress responses to tail docking in piglets and to compare two methods of tail docking; cautery iron (CAUT) and the more commonly used blunt trauma cutters (BT). At approximately 6 days of age, piglets were tail docked using CAUT (n = 20), BT (n = 20) or sham tail docked with their tails remaining intact (CON; n = 40). Blood samples were taken prior to tail docking and at 30, 60 and 90 min after tail docking to evaluate the effect of tail docking on white blood cell (WBC) measures and cortisol concentrations. The above experiment was repeated to observe behaviour without the periodic blood sampling, so as not to confound the effects of blood sampling on piglet behaviour. Piglet behaviour was recorded in the farrowing crate using 1 min scan-samples via live observations for 60 min prior to and 90 min after tail docking. Total WBC counts were reduced (P > 0.05) among BT and CAUT compared with CON piglets 30 min after tail docking. Cortisol concentrations were higher (P < 0.01) among BT compared with CON and CAUT piglets 60 min after tail docking. Cautery and BT-docked piglets spent more (P < 0.05) time posterior scooting compared with CON piglets between 0 and 15 min, and 31 and 45 min after tail docking. Piglets tail docked using CAUT and BT tended to spend more (P < 0.07) time sitting than CON piglets between 0 and 15 min post tail docking. Elevated blood cortisol can be reduced by the use of the CAUT rather than the BT method of tail docking. Although the tail docking-induced rise in cortisol was prevented by using CAUT, the behavioural response to BT and CAUT docking methods was similar.