Technological advances for common cattle health problems

It seems as if we hear something new about artificial intelligence (AI) almost daily. It is the hot topic of 2023 – in fact on the day I write this it has been confirmed that AI is Collins Dictionary's word of the year (BBC News, 2023)! So, it seems very apt that we have an article in this month's edition of Livestock on The future of AI for livestock veterinary practice (p254). In it, Robert Hyde and Charles Carslake discuss how AI could transform farm animal veterinary practice.

Technological advances are particularly interesting for the common diseases impacting livestock. Mastitis is one of the most economically important diseases of dairy cows across the industry, and of course it can have a big impact on animal welfare as well as profitability.

Data can play a big role in the prevention and detection of mastitis and has done for some time. However, this often looks at symptoms associated with the later stages of the disease. AI is now being trialled for the automatic diagnosis of early-stage dairy cow mastitis. If veterinarians can reliably detect mastitis at an early stage using automatic methods, big gains could be made in the reduction of antibiotic use and improvements in herd welfare.