The Health Checks worklist helps you monitor animal well-being by detecting behavioral changes that may indicate health issues. It uses SmartTag sensor data to alert you when cows deviate from their normal patterns, so you can act early and prevent problems from escalating. 

How it works

Animals are added to the Health Checks worklist automatically based on their behavior. You can adjust thresholds in the Health Checks settings to define when animals appear on the list.

There are two types of alerts:

• Urgent: Added to the list immediately and cannot be removed manually.

• Non-urgent: Can be removed by marking the animal as Checked or No health issue. If the issue continues or a new one appears, the animal will return to the list the next day.

What You See on the Dashboard

On the Worklist dashboard, the Health checks tile shows:

• Total: The number of animals that need a health check.
  
• Urgent: The number of animals that need to be checked immediately.
• To check: The number of animals that need a health check other than urgent.

The tile color indicates the status:

• Green: No animals need attention.
• Blue: There are animals that need to be checked.
• Orange: One or more animals need urgent attention.

Tabs Overview

The Health checks worklist is divided into two tabs to help you track current and recently handled animals. 

• Active: Lists animals currently due for a health check.
• Past week: Shows animals that were either checked or removed from the Active tab within the last 7 days.

Types of Health Issues

The Health Checks worklist identifies the animals showing behavioral changes that may indicate health issues. The worklist allows you to quickly assess whether an animal's health is improving, stable, or declining.

The worklist identifies three types of health issues: 

• Urgent: The animal has stopped eating and ruminating (high inactivity) for a defined period. 
• Significant: Significant increase in inactivity in the last 24 hours.
• Gradual: Steady decline in eating or ruminating in the last five days.

If an animal has multiple indicators, the most severe one determines the alert type: 

• Urgent: The animal currently has an urgent health issue.
• Significant: The animal currently has a significant health issue. 
• Was urgent: The animal recently had an urgent health issue
• Was significant: The animal recently had a significant health issue.
• Gradual: The animal currently has a gradual health issue.

What is the Health Score?

The Health Score is a dynamic value between 1 and 10 that reflects the animal’s current health status based on behavior and contextual factors.

The Health Score measures an animal’s well-being based on:

• Behavior in the past 24 hours.
• Calendar data (such as reproductive status).
• Comparison with other animals on the farm and with similar animals based on lactation number and Days in Milk (DIM).

The Health Score indicates an animal's current health status based on its behavioral patterns.

• Scores range from 1 (poor health) to 10 (excellent health).
• Colors:
  • Red (1-3): Immediate attention is needed.
  • Blue (4-10): Health is stable or good.
• Scores update every 15 minutes.

What is the Health Score Trend?

The Health Score Trend indicates whether an animal's health has been improving, stable, or declining over the last six hours.

• Values: 0, 1, 2, or 3, 
• Visual cues:

  • ↑ = Improving

  • ↓ = Declining

  • — = Stable

Example of a Trend Change

An animal with a high Health Score but a downward trend may be in the early stages of a health decline. Detecting this early allows for quicker intervention, preventing minor issues from becoming serious. 

How to Interpret the Data

Focus on the following columns in the worklist to evaluate the animal's current condition: 

• Check: Shows why the animal is on the worklist.
• Health score: Gives an understanding of theseverity of the health issue.
• Health score trend: Shows whether the animal is recovering or getting worse.

To see more information, select the arrow icon to open the health graph, or select the animal number to view her full details.

Icons in the Health Checks Worklist 

Some animals in the Health Checks worklist may have icons next to the animal number. These icons appear only when relevant and help explain why the animal's behavior might be changing. They provide additional context to support your evaluation.

Icons
	Recently in heat Indicates that the animal was in heat recently. This could be a possible reason for deviating behavior.
	Calving stress For animals in late gestation. This indicates potential stress related to the upcoming calving event, typically when the cow has been carrying a calf for more than 275 days (DCC > 275).
	Post-calving stress For recently calved animals. This signals that the cow may need additional support during the transition period, particularly in the first few days after calving (DIM <5).
	SmartTag issue Indicates that the animal has a SmartTag issue, which could be a reason for the deviating data of the animal's behavior.

Next Steps

Once you've interpreted the data and identified which animals need attention, you can take appropriate actions like marking animals as checked or copying them to another worklist. 

See Handle Animals in the Health Checks Worklist for step-by-step instructions.