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By Dr Holly Vickery 
Lead Researcher, Wearable Sensor Technology for Dairy Goats Project: On-Farm Validation and Farmer Perceptions 

Have you ever watched a goat chew the same mouthful of cud for what feels like forever, or tried to work out which goat is which based on the spots on its feet? 

Welcome to the wonderful world of behaviour observation in animal welfare research! 

Over the last few months, we've been getting stuck into the on-farm part of our project: validating wearable sensor technology for dairy goats. This means testing whether eartags fitted with accelerometer-based sensors can accurately detect behaviours like lying, eating, and ruminating—key indicators of health and welfare. 

One of the goats modelling her fancy new high tech ear tag! 

To do that, we’ve had boots on the ground (and eyes on goats) in a commercial dairy setting, observing and recording what the goats are actually doing, minute by minute, and matching that up with what the sensor data shows. 

Meet Clare – Goat Watcher Extraordinaire 

Our incredible Research Assistant, Clare Parsons, has been the real hero of this phase. She’s been living and breathing goat behaviour—quite literally at times—as she’s spent long days in the barn, tablet in hand, logging every lie down, snack, and thoughtful chew. 

Clare told me: “It has been a really enjoyable experience, after years of experience with dairy cattle behaviour I have found a new love for goats!  They are such characters and have been a joy to observe. They are very playful and are very interested in everything. I have become very fond of them and have enjoyed getting to know their different personalities.” 

Her dedication and focus have been vital in helping us use an ethogram (a list of clearly defined behaviours) to capture what the goats are doing and when, and then use that information to train the sensors’ algorithms. After a short adaptation period (where the goats got used to their eartags), Clare conducted eight days of observations, recording behaviours directly into the SmartBell app while the sensors logged real-time data. 

One of the study goats playing with a blue barrel provided as enrichment = a behaviour we hadn’t thought to list in our ethogram!  

And yes, she even had favourites.  

“Some very welcome distractions by certain goats, especially the “naughty” one who will always come over for some attention any time you are near the feed barrier!” 

Why All This Matters 

It might seem like a lot of work for a few data points—but accurate validation is the foundation of technology that works for farmers and for animals. If sensors can reliably detect lying, feeding, and ruminating, they can help flag early signs of illness or stress—way before a goat shows outward symptoms. That means faster interventions, happier goats, and more efficient farms. 

This on-farm validation is part of a wider project looking to bring precision livestock farming tools into the dairy goat sector, an area of dairy farming that’s growing fast but has been overlooked when it comes to tech innovation. We believe goats deserve the same welfare-centred attention we’ve seen in cattle, and we’re excited to help build the evidence that makes that possible. 

What’s Next? 

With Clare’s data in hand, we’re now working with SmartBell’s technical team to fine-tune the sensor algorithms. We’ll continue monitoring remotely until August, combining sensor data with CCTV, and farm health records to see how all these elements connect. 

An important part of the project is making sure this information is shared with the relevant people. On July 17th we’ll be holding a workshop to share what we’ve learned and work together on a roadmap for future development of technology use in this sector. This will be held at the South West Dairy Centre and if you're directly involved with the dairy sheep or goat sector you can sign up to attend .

In the meantime, we’re still gathering input from across the industry. If you’re involved in dairy goat or sheep farming we’d love to hear from you. You can take our short survey .

Thanks for following along—there’s lots more to come, and hopefully lots more goats to watch!