Manhattan ? When it comes to raising cattle, the worst nightmare is that a disease wipes out the entire herd. Kansas State University researchers are working on a novel idea that just might help prevent such disasters.

Combining computer chips and engineering with veterinary medicine, the project also could be an invaluable aid against bioterrorism, said Dan Andresen, a computer science professor who’s in charge of the project.

“If we have a bioterrorism attack, we can get faster, more detailed information with this system,” Andresen said.

The National Science Foundation this year awarded a five-year grant of nearly $900,000 for the project, in addition to the $100,000 it provided last year.

“The critical thing we did this year is prove that we can get health data off the cow and into some type of data-recording device,” he said.

Basically, the goal is to take information about a cow’s vital signs and relay that to a computer system that would translate that into a diagnosis of some illness.

The idea shows promise. A bulky prototype works, so the theory seems sound. But scientists tend to be conservative when it comes to predicting success.

“All of this is four to five years in the future and theoretical,” Andresen said. “We have a great team but we’re not positive we can deliver on this.”

One idea being tested has a small sensor attached to a cow’s ear to identify each animal and collect such information as heart rate, respiration, blood gases, temperature and movement.

A bulky prototype is strapped to a cow as part of research at Kansas State University. The goal is to take information about a cow's vital signs and relay the information to a computer system that would translate the data into a diagnosis of illness.

Using wireless technology, the sensor transmits that information to a small data collector hanging from the neck like a cowbell. The data then is relayed to a receiver installed where cattle congregate, like feeding and watering areas.

From the receiver, a farmer using a hand-held computer downloads the data for a quick analysis of whether there are early signs of disease.

David Poole, a veterinary research scientist, said that with the system a disease could be detected three days to 14 days sooner than waiting for the symptoms to become obvious.

“You can save millions of dollars in damage if you know early enough to pull an ailing animal from the rest the herd before it infects the others,” Poole said. “The earlier you get to it, the better the chance of preventing the spread.”

Farmers and ranchers also could feed the data from their computers into existing national databases that gather information about diseases from veterinarians around the country.

“It would give the nation a better idea of where the disease develops and where the clusters might be and that has national security implications,” Andresen said.

Diagnosis

A major challenge for researchers is taking all the components and shrinking them into a small package that will give accurate results. Andresen credits Steve Warren, a computer engineering professor, with making that a reality.

The prototype, above, is much bigger than the final invention would be. Researchers are trying to make the product smaller and more affordable, for widespread use.

The ear sensor is about one square inch and so light it would be no more troubling than a large fly. A few months ago, the sensor was 3-by-5 inches and weighed so much that it would have annoyed the animal.

Andresen said researchers would start by diagnosing a couple of diseases in the first year and eventually expand that to a couple of dozen.

He said one of the first diseases would be pneumonia because it’s common and easy to diagnose. Eventually, troubling ailments like anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease would be added.

“It doesn’t have to be an exotic disease. We hope to be able to identify the disease quicker with electronics than having the rancher look at the animal,” said Howard Erickson, professor of veterinary medicine.

Project’s practicality

He said the system could monitor other animals including sheep, pigs and horses. Cattle were picked because they are big business in Kansas.

Kansas ranks second nationally with 6.35 million head of cattle on ranches and in feedlots; cattle represented 61 percent of the state’s agricultural cash receipts last year, according to Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service.

Veterinary researchers are working on what information the computer needs from the animal to make an accurate diagnosis. Erickson and Andresen agreed it could take a year or more to develop a computer program to translate biological data into probable illnesses.

Andresen said the biological information could be combined with environmental and weather data gleaned from the Internet to help in diagnosis and to predict possible spread of an airborne disease.

Another concern is making the system affordable.

“If it isn’t affordable, then we will be putting cattle ranchers at an economic disadvantage and if it’s not affordable, it won’t be widespread,” Andresen. “The more widespread it is, the better the nation will be in knowing where there might be an epidemic.”