{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,8]],"date-time":"2026-05-08T14:52:58Z","timestamp":1778251978972,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770768000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100021130","name":"Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["FKZ 16KNQ7739"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FKZ 16KNQ7739"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100021130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Continuous digital monitoring of sheep behaviour shows potential for early stress detection. In Part 1 of this study, a novel accelerometer-based behaviour-recognition system using a nRF52832 microcontroller with Bluetooth wireless data transfer was developed and validated. A dedicated algorithm was developed to focus on the automatic detection of rumination, which also enables the classification of resting\/idling and eating. The system achieved accuracies of 0.87 (rumination), 0.90 (resting\/idling), and 0.86 (eating). Specificities were 0.87, 0.95, and 0.94; sensitivities 0.89, 0.80, and 0.60; and precisions 0.79, 0.88, and 0.73, respectively. In Part 2, four sheep were continuously monitored for 24 h to establish baseline behavioural durations. Animals were then relocated in pairs to an unfamiliar enclosure for a further 24 h observation period. Relocation resulted in a significant reduction in rumination time (\u221245.6%, p &lt; 0.05) and a significant increase in resting\/idling (+47.9%, p &lt; 0.05), while time spent eating decreased but did not reach statistical significance (\u221236.2%). These findings indicate that detecting deviations from baseline rumination and resting\/idling durations may serve as suitable ethological parameters for automated, sensor-based stress alerts. With further technical refinement and validation, the developed system shows strong potential as a reliable, non-invasive tool for monitoring key sheep stress indicators.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26041169","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T13:25:49Z","timestamp":1770816349000},"page":"1169","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Quantifying Sheep Behaviour Using a 3D Accelerometer: A Proof-of-Concept for Objective Stress Assessment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Stephanie Janet","family":"Schneidewind","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour and Laboratory Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mohamed Rabih","family":"Al Merestani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biosystems Engineering, Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"Frankenfoerder Research Society mbH, 14943 Luckenwalde, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sven","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"BITSz Electronics GmbH, 08060 Zwickau, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wolfgang","family":"Waser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Frankenfoerder Research Society mbH, 14943 Luckenwalde, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tanja","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour and Laboratory Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mechthild","family":"Wiegard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour and Laboratory Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Uwe","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biosystems Engineering, Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0782-2755","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christa","family":"Thoene-Reineke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour and Laboratory Animal Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Bhargava, K., Donnelly, W., and Ivanov, S. 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