Evaluation of behavioral changes in cattle using three-dimensional accelerometers during experimental infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus

Abstract

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a leading cause of morbidity and death in cattle. Timely recognition of sickness before development of irreparable damage to the lungs, which results in substantial economic loss, continues to be difficult. Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) contributes to the development of BRD. Currently, detection of BRD relies upon subjective assessment of cattle, which is reported to have a low diagnostic sensitivity and specificity because ill cattle alter behavior in the presence of human observers. Efforts to identify BRD and predict its occurrence have used clinicopathologic measures of inflammation, including alterations in inflammatory cells and acute phase proteins, such as haptoglobin. These diagnostics are invasive, expensive, and subject to variability dependent upon the stage of the disease. The need for remote, objective measurement of behavior in ill cattle prompted the development of several technologies capable of real-time collection of various physiologic variables. The objective of this study was to evaluate the behavior of cattle that were experimentally inoculated with a low-virulent strain of BVDV and presumably subclinically infected by the use of 3-D accelerometers. Behavior responses were evaluated in conjunction with traditional markers of inflammation.