Animal Sciences Commons^™

Validation Of A Commercial Automated Body Condition Scoring System On A Commercial Dairy Farm, Israel L. Mullins, Carissa M. Truman, Magnus R. Campler, Jeffrey M. Bewley, Joao H. C. Costa

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Body condition scoring (BCS) is the management practice of assessing body reserves of individual animals by visual or tactile estimation of subcutaneous fat and muscle. Both high and low BCS can negatively impact milk production, disease, and reproduction. Visual or tactile estimation of subcutaneous fat reserves in dairy cattle relies on their body shape or thickness of fat layers and muscle on key areas of the body. Although manual BCS has proven beneficial, consistent qualitative scoring can be difficult to implement. The desirable BCS range for dairy cows varies within lactation and should be monitored at multiple time points throughout …