A new podcast explores recent findings regarding CattleEye's automated mobility monitoring system and its impact on dairy herd management. Professor Georgios Oikonomou recently joined the Dairy Black Belt podcast to discuss the results of a landmark study evaluating the platform.
In further scientific validation for the CattleEye system and approach, a randomised controlled trial (published in the Journal of Dairy Science) this summer found severe lameness affected just 2% of cows managed with CattleEye’s daily mobility scores, against 8% under the farm’s standard protocol.
Professor Georgios Oikonomou, Professor of Cattle Health and Welfare at the University of Liverpool, led the research. Speaking recently on the Dairy Black Belt podcast, he said: “We saw that the group that was managed with the system had a very significant reduction in severe lameness cases,” he said.
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How the trial worked
Researchers randomly split 419 cows on a UK farm of more than 2,000 Holsteins into two groups. Both stayed on the farm’s existing protocol, which already included routine trims at around 80 and 180 days in milk and treatment of any cow staff identified as lame. For one group, the team also reviewed CattleEye scores each week and added flagged cows to the foot trimmer’s list. Farm staff and the trimmer didn’t know which cows were in which group.
What it found
Chronic lameness occurred less than half as often in CattleEye monitored cows, 3.9% against 9.8%. At the mid-lactation check, nearly twice as many monitored cows had completely healthy feet, 22.4% against 12%. Cows also stayed sound for longer at a median of 98 days before their first lameness event against 83. In the trial, one case of severe lameness was avoided for roughly every 17 cows monitored.
The peer-reviewed paper concluded: “Our findings indicate that automated mobility monitoring can improve lameness control programs by reducing severe and chronic lameness and improving mid-lactation foot health in cows.”
Gains on a well-run farm
The host farm was already proactive, with trained staff and a professional foot trimmer visiting twice a week. As Professor Oikonomou told the podcast, that’s what makes the result stand out.
“That was for me very encouraging, showing that the system can really help even on a farm that is already trying to manage lameness and is doing all the things that we want them to do,” he said, crediting the daily data.
“It makes it more proactive. You have these daily scores,” he explained.
Monitored cows were trimmed more often, 2.67 times per cow against 1.83. Caught early means more trims, not fewer, which is the system working as intended. “The farm after that trial decided to keep using it,” Professor Oikonomou added.
For a deeper dive into the study, check out the open-access paper in the Journal of Dairy Science at doi.org/10.3168/jds.2026-28255
If you think automated mobility and body condition monitoring could benefit your farm, reach out to the CattleEye team at contact@cattleeye.com
