By Sydney Friedman
For decades, livestock producers and evaluators have relied on trained eyes to judge how animals move. Now, researchers in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign aim to turn those visual assessments into measurable data, helping improve cattle health, longevity, and management.
Josh McCann, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, is leading a new USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture-funded project focused on understanding cattle skeletal structure and movement through advanced imaging technology.
The project, called “Cattle Mooves,” (and yes, the spelling is intentional), brings together expertise in livestock evaluation and precision technology. The playful name reflects the project’s central focus: understanding exactly how cattle move.
“As long as we’ve raised cattle, we’ve wanted to understand their structure,” McCann said. “We can measure a lot of things really well, like how much they weigh and how much they eat. But if we can’t measure something, like structural soundness, it’s really hard to manage.”
Turning observation into measurable data
Structure, which is essentially how an animal’s skeleton is aligned and moves, plays a major role in cattle longevity and productivity. While producers and judges routinely evaluate traits like stride length and joint angles, those assessments have traditionally been subjective.
McCann’s team is working to change that using 3D imaging and computer analysis. Specialized cameras capture cattle in motion, allowing researchers to quantify traits like stride length and limb angles with precision.
Source : illinois.edu