Practice Abstract - Research and innovation

Rumen bolus

In dairy farms with loose housing system with limited human contact it is quite hard to notice every cow in heat and be present at every calving. Therefore, in some dairy farms, more often are used rumen boluses that read data about cow temperature, activity and rumen pH. Data from boluses are collected in computer program that makes analysis and gives best predictions of different cows’ life events.

In family owned farm, in the beginning of year 2018 were introduced 42 rumen boluses. The information about cow daily activity serves as indicator for heat detection, data about body temperature are used to prognose calving and rumen pH results are used to evaluate the quality of feed ration, cows metabolic state and quality of rumination.

The introduction of boluses lowered number of days open (from 148 to 123 days) as well as decreased number of services per conception (from 2.3 to 2.1) mainly due to data, now available for farmer.

The system in farm also gives additional information about cow’s body temperature that can serve as indicator for different inflammatory or metabolic processes in rumen or overall cows body. In past, from farmers perspective, data from boluses showed significant effect on the precision of heat detection and prognosis of the most suitable time for service as well as on the management of cow health condition in farm.

Source Project
4D4F Data driven dairy decisions for farmers
Ongoing | 2016-2019
Main funding source
Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
Geographical location
United Kingdom
Project details

Project Keywords