Detecting behavioural patterns is increasingly coming into focus for the assessment of welfare-related issues in farm animals. Precision Livestock Farming systems provide an opportunity to obtain such data automatically. The aim of the present study, conducted during summer 2020, was to investigate whether dairy cows exhibit daily patterns in the use of functional areas in the barn, via a commercial animal indoor tracking system. We hypothesised that patterns of individual cows are more consistent than between cows. The herd consisted of lactating Brown Swiss (n = 13) and Swiss Fleckvieh (n = 7) cows housed in cubicles. The barn was organized into three functional areas, feeding, lying and activity. We collected the spatial data of cows continuously (SMARTBOW®, Zoetis, Weibern, Austria) over a period of 7 days. To compare the similarity between daily data sets of cows, we performed a hierarchal cluster analysis. The frequency of visits to and duration spent in each area and the total number of transitions between areas were used as key variables. A Principle Component Analysis revealed that the variables total number of transitions and the number of visits to the walking area explained 81.7% of the variability in the data set, whereas time spent in the three areas hardly varied between cows and across days (0-0.2%). A difference in the average distance between days within cows (Mean ± SD: 2.4 ± 1.0) and days between cows (Mean ± SD: 3.5 ± 1.5, p < 0.0001, T(497.5) = 18.9) was found. The Cohen’s d estimate was 0.7 (medium size). Although the daily patterns within cows were more similar than between cows, the days of single cows could not be assigned to a respective cluster. A possible explanation for the less distinct individual patterns might be that the cows lack a well-defined activity rhythm or that the activity behaviour is not strictly bound to the functional areas. To assess whether such data can still be used to detect behavioural changes, the next step will be to investigate the constancy of distances within and between cows over time and under different challenges.
