{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T21:59:26Z","timestamp":1790546366410,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,19]],"date-time":"2022-06-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655596800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Fund CASDAR","award":["No. 005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 005"]}]},{"name":"INRAE Animal Physiology and Livestock Systems Division","award":["No. 005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 005"]}]},{"name":"ANR\u2013APIS-GENE project DEFFILAIT","award":["No. 005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 005"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The choice of rearing strategy for dairy cows can have an effect on production yield, at least during the first lactation. For this reason, it is important to closely monitor the growth and development of young heifers. Unfortunately, current methods for evaluation can be costly, time-consuming, and dangerous because of the need to physically manipulate animals, and as a result, this type of monitoring is seldom performed on farms. One potential solution may be the use of tools based on three-dimensional (3D) imaging, which has been studied in adult cows but not yet in growing individuals. In this study, an imaging approach that was previously validated for adult cows was tested on a pilot population of five randomly selected growing Holstein heifers, from 5 weeks of age to the end of the first gestation. Once a month, all heifers were weighed and an individual 3D image was recorded. From these images, we estimated growth trends in morphological traits such as heart girth or withers height (188.1 \u00b1 3.7 cm and 133.5 \u00b1 6.0 cm on average at one year of age, respectively). From other traits, such as body surface area and volume (5.21 \u00b1 0.32 m2 and 0.43 \u00b1 0.05 m3 on average at one year of age, respectively), we estimated body weight based on volume (402.4 \u00b1 37.5 kg at one year of age). Body weight estimates from images were on average 9.7% higher than values recorded by the weighing scale (366.8 \u00b1 47.2 kg), but this difference varied with age (19.1% and 1.8% at 6 and 20 months of age, respectively). To increase accuracy, the predictive model developed for adult cows was adapted and completed with complementary data on young heifers. Using imaging data, it was also possible to analyze changes in the surface-to-volume ratio that occurred as body weight and age increased. In sum, 3D imaging technology is an easy-to-use tool for following the growth and management of heifers and should become increasingly accurate as more data are collected on this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22124635","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,19]],"date-time":"2022-06-19T21:19:26Z","timestamp":1655673566000},"page":"4635","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Three-Dimensional (3D) Imaging Technology to Monitor Growth and Development of Holstein Heifers and Estimate Body Weight, a Preliminary Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Yannick","family":"Le Cozler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"PEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35590 Saint-Gilles, France"},{"name":"Department of Animal Production, Agrifood, Nutrition (P3AN), Agro Rennes-Angers, 35042 Rennes, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elodie","family":"Brachet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Production, Agrifood, Nutrition (P3AN), Agro Rennes-Angers, 35042 Rennes, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laurianne","family":"Bourguignon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Production, Agrifood, Nutrition (P3AN), Agro Rennes-Angers, 35042 Rennes, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laurent","family":"Delattre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"3D Ouest, 5 Rue de Broglie, 22300 Lannion, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thibaut","family":"Luginbuhl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"3D Ouest, 5 Rue de Broglie, 22300 Lannion, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Philippe","family":"Faverdin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"PEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35590 Saint-Gilles, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Sicot, I., Plouzin, D., Bulot, N., Mathieu, Y., Cormier, H., Bernard, E., Fran\u00e7ois, J., Trou, G., Le Lan, B., and Morin, P. (2013). R\u00e9ussir L\u2019\u00e9levage des G\u00e9nisses Laiti\u00e8res, de la Naissance au V\u00ealage, Chambres d\u2019agriculture de Bretagne, de Normandie et des Pays de la Loire, Institut de l\u2019Elevage, INRA, AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Ouest Conseil Elevage et Bovins Croissance."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Tranel, L. (2021, September 21). Heifer Raising Costs in 2019. Available online: https:\/\/www.extension.iastate.edu\/dairyteam\/files\/page\/files\/whats_it_cost_to_raise_heifers_2019_0.pdf."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1393","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731108002498","article-title":"Rearing strategy and optimizing first calving targets in dairy heifers: A review","volume":"2","author":"Lollivier","year":"2008","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Reproscope (2022, April 05). Age au 1er V\u00ealage Chez les Animaux de Race Holstein. Available online: www.reproscope.fr."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1836","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.S0022-0302(01)74623-1","article-title":"What affects the costs of raising replacement heifers: A multiple-component analysis?","volume":"84","author":"Tozer","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.20870\/productions-animales.1989.2.1.4400","article-title":"Croissance des g\u00e9nisses de renouvellement et performances ult\u00e9rieures","volume":"2","author":"Troccon","year":"1989","journal-title":"INRA Prod. Anim."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3576","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.S0022-0302(92)78134-X","article-title":"Predicting body weight and wither height in Holstein heifers using body measurements","volume":"75","author":"Heinrichs","year":"1992","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104693","DOI":"10.1016\/j.livsci.2021.104693","article-title":"The development of equations to predict live-weight from linear body measurements of pasture-based Holstein-Friesian and Jersey dairy heifers","volume":"253","author":"Costigan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Livest. Sci."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"1","article-title":"Body surface area in young cattle is well correlated with body length","volume":"3","author":"Casanova","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Vet. Sci. Anim. Wel."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"269","article-title":"A formula for estimating surface of dairy cattle","volume":"23","author":"Elting","year":"1926","journal-title":"J. Agric. Res."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4508","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2021-21337","article-title":"Estimation of body weight gain components and study of variation factor to estimate body weight of lactating dairy cows using 3D images technology","volume":"105","author":"Xavier","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104977","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2019.104977","article-title":"Volume and surface of Holstein dairy cows calculated from complete 3D shapes acquired using a high-precision scanning system: Interest for body weight estimation","volume":"165","author":"Allain","year":"2019","journal-title":"Comp. Elect. Agric."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"447","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compag.2019.01.019","article-title":"High-precision scanning system for complete 3D cow body shape imaging and analysis of morphological traits","volume":"157","author":"Allain","year":"2019","journal-title":"Comp. Elect. Agric."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Agabriel, J., and Meschy, F. (2007). Alimentation des veaux et des g\u00e9nisses d\u2019\u00e9levage. Alimentation des Ruminants. Besoins des Animaux et Valeur des Aliments, Editions Quae."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1020","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731118002422","article-title":"Effects of feeding treatment on growth rates, metabolic profiles, and age at puberty, and their relationships in dairy heifers","volume":"13","author":"Abeni","year":"2019","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1145\/2487228.2487237","article-title":"Screened Poisson surface reconstruction","volume":"32","author":"Kazhdan","year":"2013","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Graph."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Cignoni, P., Callieri, M., Corsini, M., Dellepiane, M., Ganovelli, F., and Ranzuglia, G. (2008, January 2\u20134). MeshLab: An Open-Source Mesh Processing Tool. Proceedings of the Sixth Eurographics Italian Chapter Conference, Salerno, Italy."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Wickham, H., Chang, W., Henry, L., Pedersen, T.L., Takahashi, K., Wilke, C., Woo, K., and Yutani, H. (2021, September 15). RStudio, Ggplot 2 (3.2.1) [Logiciel]. Available online: https:\/\/cran.r-project.org\/web\/packages\/ggplot2\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"R Core Team (2019). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available online: https:\/\/ www.r-project.org\/."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Mitchell, H.H. (1928). Check Formulas for Surface Area of Sheep. A Year\u2019s Progress in Solving Farm Problems in Illinois, University of Illinois. Annual Report of the Agricultural Experimental Station."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Brody, S. (1945). Bioenergetics and Growth with Special Reference to the Energetic Efficiency Complex in Domestic Animals, Reinhold Publ."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Johnson, H.D., Ragsdale, A.C., Sikes, J.D., Kennedy, J.I., O\u2019Bannon, E.B., and Hartman, D. (1961). Environmental Physiology and Shelter Engineering LVII. Surface Area Determinations of Beef and Dairy Calves during Growth at 50\u00b0F and 80\u00b0F Environmental Temperatures, University of Missouri. Agricultural Experiment Station Research Bulletin 770."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"txac066","DOI":"10.1093\/tas\/txac066","article-title":"Estimation of Empty Body and Carcass Chemical Composition of Lactating and Growing Cattle: Comparison of Imaging, Adipose Cellularity, and Rib Dissection Methods","volume":"6","author":"Xavier","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transl. Anim. Sci."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/12\/4635\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:35:12Z","timestamp":1760139312000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/22\/12\/4635"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,19]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6]]}},"alternative-id":["s22124635"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s22124635","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,19]]}}}