Application of fuzzy logic in automated cow status monitoring

Sensors for measuring yield, temperature and electrical conductivity of milk, and activity can be used for automated cow status monitoring. Fuzzy logic was used for the classification of mastitis alerts with the objective to reduce the number of false positive alerts, while keeping the level of detected cases of mastitis at the same level. Input for the fuzzy logic model were alerts from the detection model and additional information. The output was a classification, true or false, of each alert. Only alerts that were classified true should be presented to the herd manager. The additional information was used to check whether deviating sensor measurements were caused by mastitis or by other influences. The fuzzy logic model was tested on a data set from cows milked in an automatic milking system. All clinical cases without measurement errors were classified correctly. The number of false positive alerts from a subset of 25 cows was reduced from 1266 to 64, by applying the fuzzy logic model.