Apparatus and method for detecting disease in dairy animals

A method of determining the presence of an udder disease in a dairy animal, comprising:

• determining a measure of activity of the dairy animal using at least one accelerometer attached to a leg of the dairy animal, wherein the determined measure of activity is a motion index which is the sum of measured net acceleration values, minus an offset for gravity, of the accelerometer, summed over a period of time;
• determining, using a computer processor, that the dairy animal has an udder disease from a change in the measure of activity of the dairy animal based on measurements from the at least one accelerometer, and thereby detecting the udder disease in the dairy animal based upon the determination;
• and
• transmitting a signal indicative of the detected udder disease to a data receiving unit.

An apparatus for detecting a health or welfare condition of a farm animal, comprising:

• an accelerometer, for attachment to a farm animal, operable to output activity related data, and
• a computer processor operable at least to:
• receive the output activity related data;
• and
• determine a first measure of a first activity and at least one second measure of at least a second activity, of the animal to which the accelerometer is attached, from the received activity related data a first activity type of the first activity results in a net horizontal displacement of the animal and a second activity type of the second activity results in no net horizontal displacement of the animal, and the first activity type is different from the second activity type,
• wherein the first measure is a measure of a motion index of the farm animal, the motion index of the farm animal being the sum of measured net acceleration values, minus an offset for gravity, of the accelerometer, summed over a period of time.

A method of determining the presence of an udder disease in a dairy animal, comprising:

• determining a measure of activity of the dairy animal using at least one accelerometer attached to the dairy animal, and
• determining, using a computer processor, that the dairy animal has an udder disease from a change in the measure of activity of the dairy animal based on measurements from the accelerometer;
• and
• wherein the measure of the activity of the dairy animal is a measure of standing, or laying, or transitioning between standing and lying of the dairy animal;
• and
• wherein the measure is a measure of a motion index of the dairy animal, the motion index of the dairy animal being the sum of measured net acceleration values, minus an offset for gravity, of the accelerometer, summed over a period of time.