V. Poikalainen

About

V. Poikalainen is a pioneering researcher in precision cattle farming, whose work has fundamentally advanced the automated monitoring and welfare assessment of dairy cows. Based at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Poikalainen has dedicated their career to developing non-invasive, technology-driven solutions for detecting health issues in livestock before they become critical. Poikalainen's most influential contributions center on integrating sensors and imaging technologies into milking robot environments. Their landmark study on infrared thermal imaging (65 citations) demonstrated how temperature distribution patterns across a cow's body can serve as reliable health indicators, while their work on force and load sensors for lameness detection (60 and 47 citations respectively) established new standards for early intervention in herd management. Their most-cited paper (69 citations) addressed the practical challenge of weighing cows within milking robot systems, a deceptively important welfare metric. What distinguishes Poikalainen's research is its consistent emphasis on contactless measurement — including respiration rate monitoring via laser sensors — minimizing animal stress while maximizing data quality. Collectively accumulating over 280 citations, this body of work has meaningfully shaped how modern dairy farms use automation to safeguard animal health and productivity.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Assessing Cows’ Welfare: weighing the Cow in a Milking Robot

   69 citations · 2005
2. 2
   Infrared temperature patterns of cow's body as an indicator for health control at precision cattle farming

   65 citations · 2012
3. 3
   Detecting cow's lameness using force sensors

   60 citations · 2008
4. 4
   Automatic observation of cow leg health using load sensors

   47 citations · 2007
5. 5
   Contactless measurement of cow behavior in a milking robot

   24 citations · 2006
6. 6
   A system for contact-free measurement of respiration rate of dairy cows

   14 citations · 2007
7. 7
   Monitoring cow health in a milking robot

   5 citations · 2005
8. 8
   Automatic Cow Health Measurement System in a Milking Robot

   2 citations · 2006

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links