Vets and advisors

Reimagining Veterinary Practice with AI Vision Technology

AI is not just improving the lives of animals – it's also improving the lives of people who look after them. We investigate the potential for AI to revolutionise veterinary practice as we know it.

In veterinary practice sometimes the toughest challenges aren’t from the work itself, but from the constant demands of clients, colleagues, the industry, and the demands we put on ourselves.

But as AI and vision technology become more sophisticated, we're seeing a shift that is redefining what our work looks like. With AI-driven solutions handling many of the routine jobs, we can step into a new kind of practice—one that engages our customers, offers flexibility and new revenue opportunities, expands our skill sets, and creates more engaged, diverse, and sustainable workforces.

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AI Camera Technology: Moving Beyond Constant Surveillance

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As vets, we know the challenges of building relationships with clients and trying to keep tabs on what’s going on on their farms, but often we’re not there for days or weeks at a time. AI camera technology is changing the game by taking on continuous monitoring tasks which aren’t just passively recording—they’re actively analysing, detecting patterns in welfare and behaviour, looking for early-stages of illness or management mishaps, and flagging abnormalities 24/7.

This technology allows for proactive, data-backed monitoring and incisive interventions. This shift opens up a new approach to our work: filling vets in on everything that’s happening for the other 6.5 days of the week when we’re not there, allowing for more impactful engagement between vets and farmers.

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Flexibility and Work-Life Balance: Practical Implications for a More Diverse Workforce

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The flexibility that AI camera monitoring offers can’t be overstated. Traditional veterinary practice demands physical presence both in the field and in the clinic, which can limit career options for those juggling responsibilities like caregiving, vets facing illness or injury, or those who simply want a better work-life balance.

But with AI enabling in-depth, remote farm monitoring and a shift to a more consultative veterinary model, practices can embrace at least a partial step away from traditional regimented working hours - supporting vets to find better ways to balance our professional and personal lives.

For many of us, this flexibility opens doors to work arrangements that are not only more inclusive but more sustainable in the long run. It means creating a profession that fits a wider variety of lifestyles and widens participation to those who may have previously found life in practice inaccessible.

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Fostering Engagement, Reducing Burnout and Generating Revenue

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High turnover and burnout are deeply familiar challenges in our field, but embracing the new insights that camera AI technology provides is changing the way vets engage with their customers. Farmers are at the forefront of the agritech revolution and already embracing AI technology - vets are well-positioned to facilitate changes to animal health using the deep insights it provides.

A new, tech-savvy generation of vets who are integrating cutting-edge technology into their daily veterinary care are well-placed to take the lead and forge fulfilling and engaging careers, generating new revenue streams in the process. And - let’s face it – if vets don’t grab this opportunity for animal health then someone else will.

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Embracing Change for a More Sustainable Veterinary Future

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AI in cattle monitoring isn’t just about keeping up with the latest tech—it’s about real, meaningful changes to our everyday lives in veterinary practice. By actively analysing farm data 24/7, AI identifies insights that we otherwise simply couldn’t see. It allows us to work flexibly and opens new doors for consultative services; AI is helping us to reimagine what a sustainable, engaging veterinary career looks like.

As we adopt these tools, we’re not only improving animal welfare but also building a more flexible, sustainable, and valuable profession. It’s a future where veterinarians can be fully engaged without being constantly present, where we can practice in a way that fits our lifestyles, and where our profession is enriched by a wider range of perspectives and experiences. Embracing this shift could be key to solving the longstanding challenges of burnout and retention, allowing us to continue doing our work—on terms that work for us.

Liz Cresswell

Dec 2024

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5 min read

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When it comes to dairy farming, we already know that animal welfare and productivity go hand-in-hand. Cow comfort refers to the practices, conditions and environment designed to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of dairy cows. By understanding and addressing factors that contribute to cow comfort, vets and animal health advisors can play a pivotal role in helping dairy farmers maintain healthier, more productive herds.

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The Link Between Comfort and Health

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Cows thrive in consistent, low-stress, comfortable environments. Comfort impacts every aspect of a cow’s health, from immune function to risk of disease and reproductive success. But how can we measure whether our cows are truly comfortable, and whether comfort is paying off in terms of health, welfare and productivity?

We can assess whether cows are meeting the ideal daily “time budget.” Under conditions of optimal comfort, a cow will spend approximately 12-14 hours lying down, 3-5 hours eating, and only 2-3 hours standing, walking and loafing.

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There are only 24 hours in a day; for cows in comfortable environments, 70% of this time is spent lying or feeding. Factor in ‘out of pen’ time for milking – suddenly there’s not much time left in the time budget! Cows will prioritise lying time over other behaviours as much as possible; but if comfort is compromised (e.g. by overcrowded cubicles, poor or insufficient bedding, or extended time away from the pen), they will spend more time standing or ‘perching’ (standing in a cubicle). This uses more energy, puts them at higher risk of lameness, and eats into the time budget for activities which support the immune system and benefit the cow most – feeding and lying.

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Productivity and Economic Implications of Cow Comfort

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One of the clearest connections between comfort and productivity is seen in milk yield. Studies show that each additional hour a cow spends resting can increase milk production by 1-1.5L/per cow per day. Additionally, studies have shown that cows in higher comfort environments have 15-20% lower incidences of mastitis, 10-15% improvement in conception rates and are 30-50% less likely to be culled prematurely. Comfortable, spacious cubicles, clean bedding, and optimal feed management are proven ways to improve cow lying times and, consequently, health and productivity parameters. Cubicle renovations, bedding improvements, and proper stocking densities may have upfront costs, but can pay for themselves within a few months. By analysing cow comfort and advising on improvements, vets and animal health advisors can help farmers achieve substantial productivity gains.

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How Vets Can Promote Cow Comfort on Farms

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Vets and animal health advisors are uniquely positioned to advocate for cow comfort improvements through objective assessment of cow housing and management. AHDB provide a comprehensive guide to dairy cow housing recommendations. There are some practical areas that advisors can assess to support cow comfort:

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Evaluate Cubicle Comfort and Design
During herd checks, evaluate the cubicle design, cleanliness, and bedding quality. Cows prefer soft surfaces for lying, and lying times and subsequent production can increase markedly after investment in softer bedding such as sand or high-quality mattresses. Ensure cubicles are of adequate size, number and cleanliness.
Encourage Proper Stocking Densities
Assess stocking density to reduce competition and bullying for resources. There should be at least 5% more cubicles than cows, but be aware if some cubicles are too small, dirty or inaccessible then they should not count towards the total!
Optimize Feed Management
Work with farmers to implement feeding schedules that align with the cows' natural behaviours. The biggest drivers of feeding behaviour are delivery of fresh feed and feed push-ups, particularly during daylight hours and after milking. Optimising feeding for these times encourages dry matter intake (DMI), which can be an easy win for increasing milk yield.
Implement Health Monitoring Technology for Early Intervention
These days there are many ways in which dairy cows are monitored – work with farmers to interpret the data produced, and track and analyse changes that could suggest changes in cow health and welfare and use that information. Setting time to assess cow health on an ongoing basis improves overall herd health and productivity.
Assess Time Budgets with Farmers
Do you know what the time budget is on your farms? How long cows are spending out of the pen per day? What impact that is having on important behaviours such as feeding and lying, and how that affects overall health and milk yield? Measuring the time budget is the first step towards accommodating the cow's optimal daily schedule and can lead to significant improvements in both productivity and health.

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The Role of Vets in Driving Positive Change

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As vets and animal health advisors, we are trusted aides to dairy farmers, and our insights are important factors in management decisions. By advocating for improved cow comfort, we help farmers build healthier herds, increase productivity, and create more sustainable, profitable dairy operations.

Through regular check-ins, bespoke recommendations, and objective, evidence-based improvements to cow comfort, meaningful changes can be made to welfare and profitability - one comfortable cow at a time.

Welfare Groups

Why Cow Comfort Matters — and How Vets Can Make a Difference

Why does Cow Comfort matter? An insight into why comfortable cows are healthy, productive cows – and what vets and advisors can do about it.

Dec 2024

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5 min read

Tom Angel, Veterinary Surgeon at Synergy Farm Health has been making great progress with using Vet Vision AI technology on his farms. Using different cameras he is making improvements to cow management, and subsequent health, welfare and productivity.

Improved heifer comfort

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One of Tom’s routine herds, a 500 cow, high-yielding Holstein herd reported poor performance in first lactation heifers. Early investigations revealed -

Excessive sole bruising had been reported by the foot trimmer
Poorer than expected milk yields identified on milk recording.

The herd had a separate early lactation pen for heifers up to 100 days in milk (DIM), and they were concerned Cow Comfort in this shed and lack of cubicle training were contributing factors. Tom put cameras in for two weeks from 16^th-30^thFebruary, then moved them to the mid-late lactation pen on 8^thMarch:
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‍*Shed comparison for cow comfort (daily average percentage of cows lying down per hour)*

*Shed comparison for perching (daily average percentage of cows which are touching a cubicle but not lying down per hour)*

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The data starkly quantified how much of an issue cow comfort was for these fresh heifers. Tom and the farmers are now exploring cubicle training heifers prior to calving and increasing cubicle comfort through deeper bedding for the<100 DIM group. We are looking forward to monitoring the changes this will make to Cow Comfort and especially seeing the impact on foot health and productivity. Each extra hour of lying time can equate to 1-1.5L/cow/day in milk yield, so the impact of improving cow comfort is likely to be significant!

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New mattress assessment

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The two sheds are symmetrical and almost identical, but one shed has had a recent investment in new mattresses, which is reflected in markedly higher Cow Comfort scores:

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Prior to investing in new mattresses or bedding substrates, cameras can be used to test how cows might respond to such changes. By drawing ‘zones’ around areas of interest, cow comfort, lying times and perching times can be analyzed and potential management changes assessed before investment is made at a wider scale.

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Changing feeding routine

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Tom wanted to analyze one herd’s Time Budget, as he felt that the cows were underperforming despite diet, health status and nutrition being excellent.

The herd is milking three times a day, and he noticed that feed intake was much higher after first milking of the day:

*Percentage of time spent performing behaviour*

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Knowing that the strongest drives for feeding are feed delivery and push-up, Tom recommended a change to the feeding schedule to feed directly after midday and afternoon milkings too. The results clearly showed how this change to feeding regime has helped to increase DMI:

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The 24/7 objective analysis provided by camera AI technology helped Tom to detect an issue which would otherwise have been difficult to identify from his weekly visits. By improving DMI Tom's advice has enabled this herd to improve feed efficiency, herd performance and reduce waste.

These are just some of the ways that vets are helping farmers to improve herd health, welfare and performance using camera vision AI – if you would like the opportunity to use these tools in your herds please get in touch!

Vets and advisors