Harper Adams study hopes ear tags will improve goat welfare

Researchers at a university hope that ear tags that track movement and behaviour will help to improve the welfare of dairy goats, however the animals are doing their best to thwart the project.

The study is led by Harper Adams University in Shropshire, alongside Reading University and technology company SmartBell.

The tags are already used in calves across the agricultural industry to provide early detection of health issues.

But Dr Holly Vickery admitted the technology support team were struggling to understand why the tags kept on resetting and think it could be “because the goats are headbutting each other”.

“I’m surprised that the goats haven’t eaten them,” she said.

The tags are orange and oblong shaped, and sit in the animals’ ear with their normal numbered tag.

“It’s a bit like a Fitbit… it’s got an accelerometer in it, and what it’s doing is… it’s tracking movement,” said Dr Vickery.

Behaviours that can be detected include lying down time, rumination, eating behaviours and general activity.

The tags could also be used for the early detection of health issues and better responses to environmental factors like extreme heat.

In cows, more “lying time” could signal that the animal is lame.

“The goats are very different to work with, but broadly the behaviours that we want to look at are the same,” said Dr Vickery.

“The algorithms have to be tweaked because the goats display the behaviours in a slightly different way.”

This project involves a trial with 40 of the ear tags fitted to goats on a farm in Somerset.

Dr Vickery said she would like to see the technology incorporated into animal welfare assessments in the future.

“It would give much clearer data to consumers who want to make really informed decisions,” she said.