Why cows may be hiding something but AI can spot it

 

By Chris Baraniuk
Technology of Business reporter

Published

22 hours ago

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Image caption,

Herd animals like cows have evolved to hide lameness

As cow number 2073 makes her way out of the milking shed and passes in front of a nearby camera, the computer identifies her and watches every step.

She is only on screen briefly but here is a slight unevenness to her gait, which she is trying to hide.

A human might not notice that something is wrong but the machine picks it up.

"Really, we want to completely replace any manual watching of animals when the cow sleeps, or she eats," says Terry Canning, co-founder and chief executive of CattleEye.

His firm's technology automatically detects early signs of lameness in cattle. It is confined to milking sheds, for now, but is already being rolled out on dairy farms, mostly in the US and UK. About 20,000 cows are currently under the system's watch.

IMAGE SOURCE,CATTLEEYE

Image caption,

AI can replace human monitoring of cows, says Terry Canning of CattleEye

Farms are increasingly turning to automation for many reasons - among them, to cover labour shortages. But new tech also offers potential improvements in animal welfare and a reduction in emissions, says Mr Canning.

"We've actually calculated, that if you can reduce lameness levels by 10% on a farm, there's a saving of half a tonne of carbon per cow per year," he explains.

Lameness is caused by injuries or infections and can be very painful. Lame cows produce less milk and if it goes untreated it can mean that they end up being culled.

University of Liverpool researchers have studied CattleEye's system on three farms to check its accuracy.

In research funded by the firm (which is yet to be peer-reviewed), Prof George Oikonomou and his team compared mobility scores for cattle made by two human experts with those made by CattleEye. They found that the technology was roughly 80-90% in agreement with the two experts - in terms of judging which animals were lame.

IMAGE SOURCE,CATTLEEYE

Image caption,

Around 20,000 cows are currently being monitored by CattleEye

When 84 of the cows were subsequently checked for foot problems, the researchers found the AI system had performed slightly better than a human expert in terms of selecting those that had tissue damage in their hooves among the animals it had designated as lame.

A separate study, also led by Prof Oikonomou but funded by the Welsh government's Farming Connect scheme, found the introduction of CattleEye at one Welsh dairy farm with 300 cows, saw the proportion of animals with mobility issues fall from 25.4% to 13.5% after six months.

CattleEye is just one system bringing higher levels of automated surveillance to farms. Other devices for tracking their health include Moocall sensors.

These are strapped to a cow's tail and indicate when they are about to give birth. The sensors pick up a characteristic up and down motion of the cow's tail that occurs prior to calving.

Yet, there are plenty of farms that have not yet adopted these technologies. Dr Sarah Lloyd, her husband and family, run a farm in rural Wisconsin with about 400 cows. All of the milk they produce goes for cheese production.

IMAGE SOURCE,SARAH LLOYD

Image caption,

The price of milk dictates how much farmers like Sarah Lloyd and her husband have for technology

"The cost of the technology just can't be borne by our milk price," she says. Her husband Nels Nelson prefers to work "with his sleeves rolled up" rather than rely on machines, she adds. He's not anti-tech but the family don't see a benefit in investing in AI-based systems.

Others take a different view. Dr Jeffrey Bewley is an analytics and innovation scientist at the dairy cattle breed organisation, Holstein Association USA. He grew up on a Kentucky dairy farm and has studied the industry "my entire life". He has done some consulting work for farm tech firms, though not for CattleEye.

He says there are tell-tale signs of lameness in cattle that farmers will spot - cow's back might arch a little bit, her head may bob or the length of her strides will get noticeably longer or shorter.

But lameness is something that cows naturally try to hide because they have evolved as prey animals. So, technology that helps the farmer spot the earliest subtle signs of lameness could be useful, he explains.

IMAGE SOURCE,THE GRANT COMPANY

Image caption,

Jeffrey Bewley says that lameness is something that cows naturally try to hide

The animal charity RSPCA says it welcomes new technologies for monitoring cattle, as identifying lameness can be quite subjective for human observers and so such systems could make mobility scoring more accurate.

But the organisation says that since these are novel technologies and their validity is still developing "they cannot replace regular mobility scoring using a valid, reproducible method".

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AI will gradually play a bigger role on our farms - but exactly to what extent is unclear, and whether it will really improve conditions for the animals themselves?

"I've been in several bulk barns, several dairies that are shifted to robotics and the cows are just friendlier. You can walk among them and they don't seem to be excited at all," says Jack Britt, professor emeritus at North Carolina State University, who has consulted for various farm tech companies.

Yet, not all interventions have to be high tech. Simply adding grooves to the concrete on which cows walk to and from the milking shed, can improve their stability and reduce their chance of becoming lame, he says.

Nonetheless, he predicts in 50 years' time 90% of the human labour on farms will be replaced by machines.

It is not a vision shared by Dr Lloyd. While she accepts it can be challenging to find human farm workers, she would rather keep trying than turn to machines. "I'd prefer to have more human eyes working on farms and making a living," she says.

"That's important for the economic life and social life of our community."

Driver arrested over Maida Vale knife killer's death faces no charge

 

Published

4 hours ago

IMAGE SOURCE,YASMIN CHKAIFI

Image caption,

There was a restraining order in place to protect Yasmin Chkaifi from her abusive ex-husband

A driver who used his car to try to stop a woman being stabbed by her stalker ex-husband in west London has been released without charge.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder and later bailed after Leon McCaskre, 41, died when he was hit while killing Yasmin Chkaifi, 43, in Maida Vale.

The Met Police said it had been decided the 26-year-old would face no further action after a review of the evidence.

The man said he was grateful and thanked those who had supported him.

Ms Chkaifi was attacked near both her and her abusive ex-husband's homes on the morning of 24 January.

In an update to the case, Det Ch Insp Neil Rawlinson said it was "vitally important that when a person dies there is a thorough investigation into all of the circumstances and this has taken place".

He added that the driver was now considered to be a "vital witness" to the investigation and he had been "offered support from professionals to help him come to terms with the terrifying situation he was confronted with".

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA

Image caption,

Leon McCaskre was killed at the scene of his ex-wife's stabbing

The man released a statement through his lawyer in which he said the Met had taken a "sensible course of action", and that he would continue to help them.

"I hope that in my actions a message has been sent to society: should you see an evil it is a duty upon you to stop it with your hands," the statement said.

"If you cannot, then you should stop it by speaking out; if you cannot, then at the very least you should hate it with your heart."

• Man killed while stabbing ex was wanted by police
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Post-mortem examinations found that Ms Chkaifi died from multiple stab injuries, while McCaskre's cause of death was multiple injuries.

An arrest warrant had been issued for McCaskre on 4 January - nearly three weeks before he stabbed his ex-wife to death - after he failed to appear in court having been accused of breaching an interim stalking protection order.

At an inquest hearing earlier on Tuesday, Det Ch Insp Rawlinson told Westminster Coroner's Court: "Leon McCaskre and Yasmin Chkaifi had been in a relationship that ended several years ago. There were allegations of domestic abuse, and a stalking prevention order had been put in place against Leon."

The coroner, Prof Fiona Wilcox, gave her sympathy to her family, saying: "This is a truly shocking and distressing death and I cannot imagine what you must be going through at this time."

The Independent Office for Police Conduct has begun an investigation into the Met's contact with Ms Chkaifi in the weeks leading up to her death, following a referral from the force.

The inquests into the deaths of Ms Chkaifi and McCaskre are to be reviewed on 25 July.

These quintessentially Singaporean values have been put to the test during Covid-19, when good public hygiene practice can be a matter of life and death.

• By Faris Mustafa

8 April 2021

It hits me every time I step off the plane: the sudden chill of full-blast air con and the distinct scent of orchid-tea fragrance diffuser. Airports can feel nondescript, but arriving at Changi – both today and long before the Covid-19 pandemic – is a uniquely Singaporean experience. On the way to passport control, walking through the perfumed air, you'll see immaculately kempt green walls and tidy water features, teams of janitorial staff (in both human and robot form) and high-tech washrooms with interactive feedback screens.

If you leave the airport expecting the rest of the city to be this orderly and clean, you won't be disappointed. Once described by the New York Times as a place "so clean that bubble gum is a controlled substance", Singapore is universally known for its perfectly paved roads, manicured public parks, and spotless, litter-free streets.

Singapore is renowned for its impeccable cleanliness and pristine public image (Credit: Tuul & Bruno Morandi/Getty Images)

But cleanliness is more than a merely aesthetic ideal here. In this small city-state with just under 56 years of national independence under its belt, cleanliness has been synonymous with major social progress, unprecedented economic growth and, most recently, a coordinated containment of the coronavirus pandemic.

While Singaporeans themselves tend to humbly shrug off the suggestion their country is especially clean, its leaders have done everything they can to procure and maintain a pristine public image. "Singapore's clean reputation is something the government consciously sought to promote," explained Donald Low, a Singaporean academic and public policy scholar. "Originally, that cleanliness had at least two connotations: the first was physical, or environmental, cleanliness; the second was a clean government and society that didn't tolerate corruption.

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Having separated from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore, led by then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, had lofty ambitions of becoming a "first-world oasis in a third-world region", as he termed it. "As a newly independent city-state that was keen to attract foreign investments, Lee Kuan Yew believed, correctly, that these things would differentiate Singapore from the rest of South-East Asia," Low explained.

In practical terms, achieving cleanliness meant developing quality sewage systems, creating programmes to combat dengue and disease, a decade-long cleanup of the heavily polluted Singapore River, island-wide tree planting and the transition of once-ubiquitous street food vendors into covered hawker centres.

It also meant enacting a multitude of nationwide public hygiene campaigns appealing to Singapore's citizens to do their part. "Keeping the community clean requires a people conscious of their responsibilities," proclaimed Lee at the 1968 inauguration of Keep Singapore Clean, a now annual anti-littering initiative. Lee's speech sought to arouse a new sense of national pride among Singaporeans, appealing to a collectivist, communitarian spirit that he saw as vital to achieving the nation's goals.

Visitors to Singapore will find perfectly paved roads, manicured public parks, and spotless, litter-free streets (Credit: Andrea Pistolesi/Getty Images)

As the city-state's environmental conditions improved, so did Singapore's appeal to foreign investors and tourists alike, ushering in an extended period of unprecedented economic growth. These days, Singapore regularly tops polls ranking social conditions, such as personal safety and quality of living, among global cities; while its highly developed free market economy ranks as one of the most competitive on the planet.

Nowhere feels more emblematic of the nation's modern-day vigour than its Central Business District, where shiny, sky-scraping office towers – home to thousands of international headquarters – sit beside world-class luxury hotels, including the iconic Moshe Safdie-designed Marina Bay Sands. It's the kind of futuristic utopia that its founding prime minister could have only dreamed of.

It irked Lee that, despite his country's achievements, he'd somehow always be asked about the notorious chewing gum ban during interviews with foreign media. It's unlikely that he foresaw the level of global attention it would elicit when enacting the law in 1992 to combat the expense of cleaning pre-chewed gum from public places, like the then-brand new MRT (public transport) system. These days, gum consumption is, in fact, permitted – if you happen to inadvertently smuggle a half-eaten packet in your luggage here you won't be thrown in jail – but its sale remains prohibited.

Low explains that the infamous gum law is actually quite anomalous in terms of Singapore policy making. "Rather than outright bans," he explained, "the Singapore government usually resorts to financial (dis)incentives for activities that generate costs for society," citing by way of example its recent introduction of a carbon tax, designed to curb emissions and encourage clean energy alternatives.

The city-state's once-ubiquitous street food vendors have been moved into hygiene-regulated, covered hawker centres (Credit: Jimmy Fam/Getty Images)

But, I wondered, can Singapore really be as clean as its reputation suggests? It goes without saying that the gleaming skyscrapers, boat-shaped hotels and man-made water features don't paint an accurate picture of everyday life here. Yet even when I went outside of the city's downtown centre and into the parts where tourists seldom venture, its uniformly designed public housing estates, neatly groomed public parks, scrupulously regulated hawker centres were far from unclean.

In a world that's been radically redefined by the Covid-19 crisis, good public hygiene practice can be a matter of life and death

I headed to Geylang, an area of Singapore famous for its excellent local food (Anthony Bourdain experienced "pure messy indulgence" eating crab bee hoon here in 2001) and for being the only legalised red-light district in the city. Surely, I thought, this is where I'd see the "real" Singapore.

It was after dark and the streets were aglow with dated-looking fluorescent-neon signs advertising sex shops, karaoke lounges and late-night cafes selling frog-leg porridge, a regional delicacy. "Think of this as the underbelly of Singapore," said Cai Yinzhou, standing beside me in a dimly lit alley, "the opposite to the manicured skyscrapers we see in the Central Business District."

Yinzhou, a Geylang native, who "grew up with sex workers and gambling den-operators for neighbours", now runs Geylang Adventures, an organised tour that aims to "present Geylang as a social ecosystem, beyond the seedy or delicious side that most locals know it to be," he told me.

Yinzhou's tour explores Geylang's brothels, bars and social milieu, which often seem at odds with Singapore's strait-laced reputation. Despite its incongruity within an otherwise family-friendly city, Geylang didn't feel dangerous. Nor remotely lawless. With close to 500 security cameras spanning the neighbourhood, there was an overwhelming sense that its unruly elements – from vice to drugs – were being carefully contained and "frequently swept clean", as Yinzhou described it.

Located on the eastern edge of central Singapore, Geylang is the only legalised red-light district in the city (Credit: Shan Shihan/Getty Images)

"This is the real Singapore", a Singaporean in our tour group declared, "it should be on every tourist checklist." I found myself agreeing. Although Geylang didn't feel sterile, it did ultimately fit, in its own unique way, into Singapore's national narrative of a clean, uncorrupt society.

These quintessentially Singaporean values were truly put to the test last year.

Not since Lee's impassioned campaigns of the late 1960s has the topic of cleanliness felt as pertinent as it does in this current era. In a world that's been radically redefined by the Covid-19 crisis, good public hygiene practice can be a matter of life and death.

On the world stage, Singapore's response to the coronavirus is one that has been widely lauded. But unlike most nations, Singapore's handling of the pandemic hasn't been purely reactive. The nation's advanced public hygiene infrastructure meant that in many ways Singapore was already prepared.

"We trained our officers in how to deal with the disinfection of infectious diseases even before Covid-19 hit our shores," explained Tai Ji Choong, Director of the Division of Public Cleanliness at Singapore's National Environment Agency. Having designed a course with Singapore Polytechnic in 2017, Choong tells me that staff were "equipped with updated skills and knowledge in disinfection techniques, disinfectant handling, safety procedures and the correct use of personal protective equipment in dealing with an infectious disease outbreak in Singapore, which proved critical when we were notified of the first Covid-19 case last year".

Robot dogs broadcast recorded messages reminding people to observe safe distancing in public spaces (Credit: Roslan Rahman/Getty Images)

That played out in an effective rollout of public health tech solutions: mobile apps that allow citizens to acquire face masks; smart thermal scanning technologies to monitor body temperatures in large groups; and robot dogs that patrol public parks to enforce social distancing measures.

While effective governance has been crucial in handling the virus, the pandemic has inevitably forced leaders to ask a lot of their citizens. In Singapore, where mask-wearing and contact tracing are mandatory, the response from its people has been overwhelmingly compliant.

But then, in a society with a cultural legacy of cleanliness, where prescriptive public hygiene policy and community coordination are the norm, what else would you expect?

Why We Are What We Are is a BBC Travel series examining the characteristics of a country and investigating whether they are true.

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