Automated body weight monitoring technology enables continuous cattle welfare assessment through early detection of weight loss associated with disease, nutritional stress, or reproductive problems.
Weight loss is a sensitive indicator of cattle welfare deterioration, reflecting pain, disease, nutritional inadequacy, and psychological stress. Traditional visual body condition scoring is subjective and infrequent. Automated continuous monitoring provides objective, real-time data enabling early intervention before welfare seriously deteriorates. This technology has particular value in large herds where individual monitoring is challenging.