Cow Cubicles and 3D Pose Estimation: Comparing Rising and Lying Down Motions under Flexible Head and Neck Straps versus Metal Bars

Metal bars in cubicles can impact posture transition movements. Flexible elements have gained attention as being able to maintain functionality while reducing externalities. Multi-view fusion of pose estimation in 3D tracked the motions of cows when getting up and lying down in cubicles. Head and neck rails were replaced by flexible straps, and we collected repeated measurements on 40 cows. There were three stages: baseline (metal bars), intervention (straps), and return-to-baseline. Using the displacement of anatomical structures, we calculated total duration and forward head displacement on both bouts, as well as backwards crawling, lunge angle, head bobs and rising delay while getting up, and shifting duration when lying down. We introduce the displacement of the centre of mass, and work of the hind limbs during lunge as a measure of cows’ ability to displace their weight. Head bobbing and lunge angle were greater with flexible straps (0.10m±0.03 & 2.7°±1.1). Rising duration decreased when metal bars were put back (-0.8s±0.3). Lying down and shifting durations were higher during the baseline (0.6s±1.2 & 0.3s±0.1) than under flexible straps but did not differ at the return to baseline. Forward head displacement when lying down was significantly lower when returning to metal bars (0.07m±0.03). Maximum forward displacement of the centre of mass increased by up to 4.7%±1.1. Estimated force loading is proposed as an evaluation method. Results suggest that flexible elements increase cows’ ability to make use of forward space but that further modelling is needed to understand the mechanisms affecting weight distribution.