Modelling Cow Behaviour Using Stochastic Automata

This report covers an initial study on the modelling of cow behaviour using stochastic automata with the aim of detecting lameness. Lameness in cows is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with because it results in less profitable production units and in reduced quality of life for the affected livestock. By featuring training data consisting of measurements of cow activity, three different models are obtained, namely an autonomous stochastic automaton, a stochastic automaton with coinciding state and output and an autonomous stochastic automaton with coinciding state and output, all of which describe the cows' activity in the two regarded behavioural scenarios, non-lame and lame. Using the experimental measurement data the different behavioural relations for the two regarded behavioural scenarios are assessed. The three models comprise activity within last hour, activity within last hour suplying with information on which hour of the day it is and lastly modelling the general activity level. Diagnosis algorithms for the three approaches are implemented and tested using the real data measurements and show that the diagnosis algorithm can distinguish between data belonging to nominal behaviour and data belonging to lame behaviour.