Evaluating a Walk-over-Weighing system for the automatic monitoring of growth in postweaned Mérinos d’Arles ewe lambs under Mediterranean grazing conditions

E. Leroux , I. Llach , G. Besche , J.-D. Guyonneau , D. Montier , P.-M. Bouquet , I. Sanchez , E. González-García
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Abstract

Live weight (LW) is a key and conventional indicator for monitoring and assessing overall animal performance and welfare, representing the progress through different physiological stages, while providing close indication of individual physical and health status. Measuring LW in practice is still, however, quite rare and infrequent under commercial sheep farming conditions, mainly because sessions are time-consuming, stressful either for the operator or the animals. A Walk-over-Weighing (WoW) system was tested in this experiment lasting 14 weeks (i.e. 3 weeks for acclimation and adaptation and 11 weeks for data collection). We validated its use for routine and frequent monitoring of growth rate in postweaned Merinos d’Arles ewe lambs (n = 100), reared under Mediterranean grazing conditions. The necessity for an initial adaptation period of the animals was confirmed. Also, the importance of conducting an effective data cleaning procedure of the raw database automatically collected by the WoW was corroborated. Adaptation of naive ewe lambs enabled the required voluntary passages across the weighing platform and a high volume of individual and daily data after 2–3 weeks. Close monitoring of individual growth was then possible after performing sound data cleaning. A good agreement was demonstrated between WoW LW and a reference LW value (measured with a standard static scale). At the individual level, even with the lowest number of LW values collected with WoW, it was possible to monitor variations in LW at daily intervals. The establishment of an early warning system to help farmer decision-making could therefore be possible. Our results show interesting prospects for more accurate and frequent monitoring of LW in grazing sheep without human intervention, compared to what is currently carried out on commercial farms.

评估在地中海放牧条件下用于自动监测断奶后梅里诺斯·德阿尔勒母羊羔羊生长的步行称重系统
活重(LW)是监测和评估动物整体表现和福利的一个关键和常规指标,代表不同生理阶段的进展,同时提供个体身体和健康状况的密切指标。然而,在商业养羊条件下,实际测量LW仍然非常罕见,主要是因为会议耗时,对操作员或动物来说压力很大。在该实验中测试了行走称重(WoW)系统,持续14周(即3周用于适应和适应,11周用于数据收集)。我们验证了它在地中海放牧条件下饲养的断奶后Merinos d’Arles母羊羔羊(n=100)生长率的常规和频繁监测中的用途。动物需要一个初始适应期,这一点已得到证实。此外,对WoW自动收集的原始数据库进行有效数据清理程序的重要性也得到了证实。对幼年母羊羔羊的适应使其能够在称重平台上自愿通过,并在2-3周后获得大量的个体和每日数据。在进行了健全的数据清理后,可以对个体生长进行密切监测。WoW LW和参考LW值(用标准静态天平测量)之间的一致性良好。在个人层面上,即使使用WoW收集的LW值数量最低,也可以每天监测LW的变化。因此,建立一个早期预警系统来帮助农民决策是可能的。与目前在商业农场进行的监测相比,我们的研究结果显示了在没有人为干预的情况下更准确、更频繁地监测放牧绵羊LW的有趣前景。
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