title: Development and validation of a visual body condition scoring system for dairy goats with picture-based training.
abstract: Body condition scoring (BCS) is the most widely used method to assess changes in body fat reserves, which reflects its high potential to be included in on-farm welfare assessment protocols. Currently used scoring systems in dairy goats require animal restraint for body palpation. In this study, the Animal Welfare Indicators project (AWIN) proposes to overcome this constraint by developing a scoring system based only on visual assessment. The AWIN visual body condition scoring system highlights representative animals from 3 categories: very thin, normal, and very fat, and was built from data sets with photographs of animals scored by a commonly used 6-point scoring system that requires palpation in 2 anatomical regions. Development of the AWIN scoring system required 3 steps: (1) identification and validation of a body region of interest; (2) sketching the region from photographs; and (3) creation of training material. The scoring system's reliability was statistically confirmed. An initial study identified features in the rump region from which we could compute a set of body measurements (i.e., measures based on anatomical references of the rump region) that showed a strong correlation with the assigned BCS. To validate the result, we collected a final data set from 171 goats. To account for variability in animal size and camera position, we mapped a subset of features to a standard template and aligned all the rump images before computing the body measurements. Scientific illustrations were created from the aligned images of animals identified as representative of each category to increase clarity and reproducibility. For training material, we created sketches representing the threshold between consecutive categories. Finally, we conducted 2 field reliability studies. In the first test, no training was given to 4 observers, whereas in the second, training using the threshold images was delivered to the same observers. In the first experiment, interobserver results was substantial, showing that the visual scoring system is clear and unambiguous. Moreover, results improved after training, reaching almost perfect agreement for the very fat category. The visual body condition scoring system is not only a practical tool for BCS in dairy goats but also shows potential to be fully automated, which would enhance its use in welfare assessment schemes and farm management.
authors.affiliation: Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Laboratory, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: ana.lopesvieira@gmail.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computers Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; Electrical and Computers Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brandão
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Quinta da Alagoa, Estrada de Nelas, 3500-606 Viseu, Portugal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.affiliation: Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Laboratory, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ajuda
authors.affiliation: Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Laboratory, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stilwell
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D049628:Body Size; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats; D016014:Linear Models; D010173:Palpation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: body condition scoring; dairy goat; representative image; template alignment; visual body condition scoring system