Validation of a heart-rate monitor for measuring a stress response in dairy cows

In three experiments, a commercial non-invasive heart-rate monitor, Polar® Sport Tester (PST), was validated for use with dairy cows. First, 10 monitors were tested using a pulse generator, which produced pulses at levels between 30 and 240 bpm. PST values and generated beats were highly correlated (r = 0.97) but with varying delay (5–55 s), depending on pulse-rate level.In a second experiment, 10 dairy cows were quietly standing or exercising on a treadmill while their heart rates were recorded by direct-wire electrocardiograph (ECG) as well as the PST. Correlations between ECG and PST values during standing (0.88) and exercising (0.72) were significant and differed between cows. During standing, inter-beat interval and PST standard deviations were significantly correlated (Rsp = 0.76), as were their coefficients of variation (Rsp = 0.89).The third experiment showed that the heart rate of 10 dairy cows increased rapidly immediately after an individual was isolated from the herd. Cows showed no obvious si...

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