The reproductive performance of dairy cows is influenced primarily by estrus-detection accuracy. Effective estrus-detection systems are beneficial to increasing pregnancy rates, improving the reproductive performance of dairy cows. The most obvious external symptom of estrus in dairy cows is standing-heat behavior. The standing cows remain briefly motionless for several seconds when repeatedly mounted by mounting cow. Therefore, in this study, wireless sensor networks were used to develop a standing-heat signal detection and management system for dairy cows. This system detects the movement signals of mounting behavior by using a 3-axial accelerometer within a wireless sensor installed on the forefeet of cows. When signal of accelerometer exceed a threshold value, the ZigBee begins broadcasting signals to the surrounding sensor nodes. The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) between the broadcasting node and every sensor node is recorded. The ZigBee serial number and the RSSI for sensor nodes are then sent to a terminal database system, which compares the RSSIs in the batch to determine the serial number with the strongest RSSI, achieving the goal of estrus detection. In addition, the results of estrus detection also can be inquired by a smartphone-base system.
