The answer to the ‘You Can’t See Me’ dilemma

Consider this thought experiment. 

High-yielding dairy cows can produce 30 to 50 litres of milk per day. Milk contains around 13% solids. So that’s, roughly, 3.9 to 6.5 kg of milk solids daily. 

Now, convert this to the dry matter (DM) equivalent of muscle (at 25% DM). A dairy cow yielding 50 kg of milk a day is producing the meat equivalent of 26 kg. 

Or in other words… every four days, she can produce the equivalent weight of a WWE wrestler like John Cena. Or in about 10 days, she can produce the equivalent of a beef cow. Our high-yielding dairy cow is truly a metabolic athlete. 

The sudden and vast energy needed upon lactation cannot be met by the diet alone. Therefore, a cow must mobilise fat and muscle to help meet this demand. This rapid fat and muscle loss can be hard to spot. And that’s where the ‘You Can’t See Me’ dilemma comes in. 

Dairy farmers and staff see their cows every day, and it’s difficult to keep track of what condition they were in at calving and monitor the changes over time. Excessive and rapid body condition changes are linked to increased metabolic diseases, which affect both welfare and profitability. 

By virtue of this thought experiment, we’ve travelled across the ‘You Can’t See Me’ Dilemma. This is a sincere problem for all dairy farmers, and early detection of body condition is vitally important on so many levels.

Enter CattleEye. What does it do? CattleEye spots what you can’t see. 

Body condition scoring has been known for decades, but it’s difficult to perform consistently, objectively, and accurately. 

This is where artificial intelligence power behind tools like CattleEye can offer a massive advantage. CattleEye’s Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence to assess the health of dairy cows by analysing video footage captured from a simple security camera placed at the exit of a milking parlour. This cost-effective solution, which uses a camera priced around £100, allows farmers to gain real-time insights into their cows’ body condition without the need for expensive hardware. By implementing BCS, farmers can optimise feeding, improve herd welfare, and enhance overall profitability through more informed management decisions

The accuracy of the CattleEye BCS system was proven to be similar to a highly trained veterinarian in a peer reviewed study published in the journal of dairy science by the University of Liverpool. 

BCS support has been validated to be equivalent to those of a trained veterinarian, which offers the objectivity and frequency needed to provide valuable insights. The CattleEye app can also incorporate milk yield, mobility score and other metrics to help trigger an early intervention or ration change which can save cows and improve the bottom line. 

It’s critically important to solve the ‘You Can’t See Me’ Dilemma.’ Bottomline: if your high-yield cow is producing the equivalent weight of a John Cena every four days, it’s time to tag in CattleEye.