The use of kinematics to quantify gait attributes and predict gait scores in dairy cows

Authors: Celia Julliot and Gabriel M. Dallago and Amir Nejati and Abdoulaye B. Diallo and Elsa Vasseur

Date: 2025-12-01

Journal: arXive

Status: Published

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2512.17847

View External Publication

Detecting walking pattern abnormalities in dairy cows early on holds the potential to reduce the occurrence of clinical lameness. This study aimed to predict gait scores in non-clinically lame dairy cows by using gait attributes based on kinematic data. Markers were placed on 20 anatomical landmarks on 12 dairy cows. The cows were walked multiple times through a corridor while recorded by six cameras, representing 69 passages. Specific gait attributes were computed from the 3D coordinates of the hoof markers. Gait was visually assessed using a 5-point numerical rating system (NRS). Due to the limited number of observations with NRS lower than 2 (n = 1) and higher than 3 (n = 6), the NRS labels were combined into three groups, representing NRS <= 2