CA1301329C - Livestock treatment and information system - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure An operative regimen for treating ill livestock - as at commercial feed lots, is generated by stored program controlled system apparatus furnished with current animal characterizing information such as weight, temperature and diagnosis. The system utilizes such current vital sign and related information, like data for past periods, and stored regimen change criteria for determining whether a treatment change is in order. The appropriate treatment (new or continued as appropriate) is read out from memory; proper dosage is calculated for the animal's body weight; and the regimen is selectively administered within the constraints of Federal Drug Administration regulations which mandate system purging periods before marketing animals given certain substances, for example, antibiotics.

Description

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34~2L F.0972-005 ; 1 LI~ESTOCK TREATMENT AND INFORMATION SYSTEM

This invention relates to a system for prescribing and dispensing medical treatment for ill livestock in an effective, accurate and cost efficient manner. In particular, the S invention relates to a system which automatically determines the initial and progressive treatment regimen for livestock afflicted wi~h varying maladies of differing severity.

~ackground of the Invention Much of the beef consumed in this country is raised on feed lots which can be quite large. Cattle begin feeding at lots when they are quite young (e.g., 400 pounds) - and are ; typically sold off to market when they attain mature size (e~g., 1,000-1,200 pounds). The duration of their feed lot stay is determined by their starting weight and their rate of weight gain. A typical weight increase rate is 3 pounds per ; day.
The environment in which the animal grows and gains weight is inherently dirty and characterized by rampant bacterial exposure. Common bacterial sources are animal wastes strewn about the environment, infected feed and, perhaps most prevalently, close animal pro~imity and watering via common watering troughs. Common bacterial ailments for cattle give ;

rise to such maladies as respiratory infections (indicated by an observable saliva via frothing, watery eyes and nostrils, sagging forechests, drooping posture and the like); hoove infections (~foot rot"); and disorders of the elementary tract (e.g., endoritus). The propensity of livestock to take ill increases when animals are moved because of the fright/trauma ~of being loaded into transport, the carriage period itself, and 3~:~

1 a changing environment. As a result, sick cattle are a matter o~ common expe~ience at feed lots which typically have a de~licated treatment area with hospital pens for the afflicted animals.
The low profit margins often characteristic of feed lots can depend upon the effectiveness with which they treat the cattle. Animals not satisfactorily cured are sacrificed as to some much lower yielding animal food purpose or lost completely through premature death, thus neqatively impacting lot ; 10 economics.
In a typical feed lot environment, the hand maintainence staff (cowboys) cull out the animals perceived to have disorder symptoms and deliver them to the hospital area. There a typically experienced hand diagnoses the ailment, and decides on the treatment procedure to be administered. Because a large number of animals must often be rapidly evaluated, dif~erent i animals suffering a like disease are typically given the same pharmaceuticals - in like quantities. Weight measurements are done, if at all, by visual estimate (an uncertain process at ; 20 best), and animal prior medical and treatment histories (as on index cards) are often incomplete or unavailable. The treatment success has thus been less than satisfactory at feed lots.
Another difficulty with the present livestock treatment system concerns mandatory Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") regulations~ The medical treatment of infected animals invariably 1nvolves the administration of antibiotics, antihistamines, pen carriers and/or disease-specific drugs.
The FDA has strict guidelines on the use of those drugs. Of specific concern here, FDA regulations require that treated animals undergo at least a prescribed period of withdrawal :~L3~3~

1 ! after certain drugs are administered prior to marketing. This withdrawal period permits the animal's system to purge the drug(s) and other ministrations before human consumption of the beef. Thus the lots must ensure that treated animals are not sold prior to the end o~ the withdrawal period or be at risk to potential serious consequences. Government inspectors randomly test carcasses for unacceptable levels of residual antibiotics and the like. Those containing proscribed materials are precluded from sale for human consumption; and an entire lot is barred when proscribed materials are found in a number of carcasses. The economics of feed lots simply do not permit such carcass diversion consistent with profitable operation.

Obiects of the Present Invention It is thus an object of the present invention to provide improved system apparatus and methodology for treating sick livestock.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus and methodology for developing an appropriate regimen for sick animals; and for changing the regimen as appropriate either because of a detariorating animal condition or following a treatment period after which the regimen is no longer deemed sufficiently effective.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a livestock treatment regimen prescribing system which assures that FDA substance withdrawal period regulations are accommodated.

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Summarv of the Invention The above and other objects of the present invention are realized in a specific, illustrative arrangement in which an operative regimen for treating ill livestock - as at commercial feed lots, is generated by stored program controlled s~stem `" ` ~3~32~

1 apparatus supplied with animal characterizing information such as weight, temperature and diagn~sis. The system utilizes such current vital sign and related in~ormation, like data for past periods, and stored regimen change criteria for determining whether a treatment change is in order. The appropriate treatment ~new or continued) is read out from memory; proper dosage is calculated for the animal's body weight; and the regimen is selectively administered within the constraints of FDA regulations which mandate system purging periods before marketing animals given certain substances, for example, antibiotics.

Brief Description of the Drawinqs The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more clear from the following detailed 1~ description of a specific, illustrative embodiment thereof, presented hereinbelow in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an automated system for developing an appropriate medical treatment for ill livestock employing the principles of the present invention; and ` Figs. 2A and 2B are respectively the upper and lower portions of a flow chart depicting data processing for the system arrangement of Fig. 1.

Detailed Description of the Invention Sick animals are brought to an evaluation/treatment prescribing station at an animal feed lot - either newly culled as sick from the normal population or delivered from a hospital pen for an already confined subject. Turning to Fig. 1, the treatment regimen to be administered is developed via the interactive communication between the diagnostician/hand and a 3~L32~
1 digital processor (e.g., a microprocessor) 100 employing an output display 110 and a data entering keyboard 112.
Included among the processing variables discussed below, the animal's identit~ (e.g., as marked on an ear tag), weight and temperature are entered in a random access memory (RAM) portion 104 of a composite memory 102. The weight, temperature and tag number may be manually entered at the keyboard 112 by the diagnostician who reads the scale weight, the thermometer and observes the ear tag number. Alternatively, per se well known weight and temperature sensors 80 and 86 with analog electrical outputs may be utilized. Analog-to-digital converters 82 and 91 respec'ively convert the output of sensors 80 and 86 to digital form. The ear tags may be electrically coded and automatically read by any ~er se known tagging and scanner system 93. A multiplexer 95 delivers the animal's weight, temperature and identity in digital form to RAM memory 104 for entry. In addition to the RAM memory 104 containing specific animal data records, composite memory 102 includes a memory portion 107 which stores a regimen change table, and a portion 109 containing appropriate treatment regimens for various diseases, disease histories and animal circumstances.
Memory portions 107 and 109 may be RAM or ROM (read only memory); and the storage segments 104, 107 and 109 may form part of one common memory device. Also included in the Fig. 1 system memory 102 (on a discrete or integrated basis) is a store 105 which holds the program instruction set for the composite Fig. 1 stored program controlled system and for microprocessor 100 in particular.
Referring now to Figs. 2A and 2B, hereinafter referred to as composite Fig. 2, there is shown a flow chart for operation of the instant stored program controlled livestock treatment system. The system may be implemented with any micro or larger processor, in any of the widely used interpretive, compiler, il3Z9 1 assembly or machine languages. The variable designations and instruction syntax used below are for illustrative purposes only - and have readily correspondents in any useful language.
For processing purposes the following variables are employed:

VARIABLE TABLE

ariable Name Ouantity Identified ID Tag number for the animal being processed.
10 WT(ID,D) A doubly indexed variable representing the weight of the animal with identification ID
animal D-days ago (current weight residing in D(ID,0).
16 WD(ID) The weight trend for the animal ID
showing whether he is currently losing or gaining weight and at ; what rate.
TP(ID,D) A doubly indexed variable representing the temperature of the animal ID D-days ago (current temperature residinq in TP(ID,0).
; TD(ID) The current temperature trend of animal ID.
25 R(ID) The current regimen administered to the animal ID.
D(ID) The number of days the animal ID
has been on regimen R(ID).
DIAG(ID) The diagnosis of the animal ID.
30 S(ID) The severity of the diagnosed ; disease DIAG(ID).
DG(K) The ensemble of k drugs to be administered for the operative regimen R(ID).
35 DS(K) The dose per 100 pounds of drug DG(K)-DS(K,ID) The dosage or the like indexed drug DG(K) to be given animal ID.
WTH(K) The withdrawal time to purge the k drug from an animal's system.

TMKT(ID) The scheduled time to market for the animal ID.

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1 To begin processing (Fig. 2), for a next encountered animal, its tag number identification (ID) is read or keyed in (step 10) and compared with the identification variable, ID for all stored animal records in RAM 104. If a file already exists ("YES" branch from test 12), processing proceeds to step 16.
If no record is found for the animal one is established with all data fields cleared (step 15). The currently measured weight (WT(ID,O)); measured temperature (TP(ID,O)); diagnosed disease (DIAG(ID)) and observed disease severity (S(ID)) are then entered (step 15) - all indexed for the subject animal ID.
The s~stem next calculates several factors meaningful to determine a suitable treatment for the animal. In functional block 18, the current weight measurement (WT(ID,O)) iS combined with one or more past readings (WT(ID,l) ... (WT(ID,N)) to determine the direction~(polarity) and amplitude of the animal's weight trend (WD(ID)). The weight trend (WD(ID)) may most simply be done on a day-to-day basis, employing WD(ID) = WT(ID,O~-WT(ID,l); Equation 1.

ox by employing any well known regression algorhithm over a longer period but which emphasizes current data. Functional block 23 similarly determines the animal's temperature trend ~; TD(ID).
Test 25 next examines the animal~s weight and temperature trends WD(ID) and TD(ID), its day-on-regimen count D(ID) and its specific regimen R(ID) to determine if the current treatment program should be changed. A change would be in order ("YES" test 25 branch) for example for a large weight loss trend (above threshold negative WD(ID)) or high temperature increase (large positive TD(ID)) indicating an animal in serious trouble needing an immediate, more stringent ~30~
, 1 remedy. A change is also indicated for a high day-on-regimen (D(ID)) value absent favorable trending (WD(ID)) and/or ~TD(ID)) values, indicating that the current regimen R(ID) is of no further help. Conversely, favorable weight/temperature trends with lower da~-on-regimen counts indicate that the current regimen is effective and therefore need not be changed ("NO" branch of test 25). The test 25 (and regimen updating) changing step 30 may be effected, for example, by storing regimen change codes in the regimen change memory 107 which is addressed (accessed) by rounded integer values of weight change divided (normalized) by weight increments, e.g., INT(WD(ID)/15) for 15 pound increments; similarly rounded integer values for the temperature trend, and the day-on-regimen variable D(ID).
Severity S(ID) may also be used in place of or to supplement the truncated, normalized weight and temperature trend variables to signify animal condition improvement or the lack of it.
; ~lternatively, the regimen changing test 12 and implementation 30 may be effected under software control, by 20 such as 100 IF -(WD(ID)/15) ~ 1 OR (TD(ID)) ~ 1 GOTO 200 Equation 2.
! 105 IF D ~; 3 GOTO 200 Equation 3.
200 R(ID) = R(ID) ~ 1 Equation 4.

Test instruction 100 increases the regimen level responsive to an above-acceptable weight decrease -(WD(ID)/15) ~ 1 (i.e., more than 15 pounds during the one day period, or sharp (as 1F) temperature increases TD(ID) ~ 1 by program transfer to instruction 200. Similarly, an instruction like equation 4 unconditionally increases the regimen level after three days although the test criteria can include coincidence logic such as D ~ 3 AND -WT(ID) ~ 5.

- : L3~ 3;~9 1 When a new regimen is appropriate ("YES" test 25 branch), the new regimen identification is extracted from memory or computed as above described and loaded into R(ID) (step 30).
The day-on-regimen counter D(ID) is cleared to "0" (step 32).
If no change in regimen is signalled by the regimen change ~` storage table or data processing, the existant regimen is ` continued for one further day and thus the day counter variable D(ID) is updated (step 28) as by D(ID) = D(ID) + 1 Equation 5.

Step 40 next retrieves the regimen, i.e., the array and amount of drugs to be administered - per 100 animal pounds where the dose varies. This is effected by accessing the i regimen tables stored in the memory 109 using as memory ; accessing (selection) variables the diaynosed condition ~ 15 DIAG(ID), severity S(ID) regimen R(ID) and days-on-regimen ; D(ID). Integer, normalized values for weight and/or temperature trends may also be employed as memory access/address variables for a more precisely varied regimen selection. For example, an animal suffering a respiratory ailment of medium severity may be given the following intermediate reglmen; R(ID):
Day 0 (D(ID)=0):
a. 5 cc Aqueous Pen G./100 lbs. (IM) b. 2 cc IBR (MLV) c. 4 cc Vitamin C/100 lbs. (SQ) Day 1:
a. 5 cc Aqueous Pen G./100 lbs. IM
Day 2:
a. 5 cc Aqueous Pen G./100 lbs. IM
b. If acceptable response, administer 1 Albon SR
bolus/200 lbs.
Withdrawal for this regimen is 30 days.

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1 If this regimen is followed to completion but the animal's ailment persists although to a lesser degree, the logic will retrieve a lower order regimen:
Day 0 (D(ID)=0):
;; S a. 5 cc Oxyject 100 mg/l00 lbs.
lM or lV
b. 2 cc IBR (MLV) c. 4 cc Vitamin C/100 lbs. SQ
Day 1:
; 10 a. 5 cc Oxyject 100 mg/100 lbs.
lM or lV
Day 2:
a. 5 cc Oxyject 100 mgfl00 lbs.
`~ lM or lV
b. If acceptable response, administer 1 Albon SR
bolus 1200 lbs.
Withdrawal period for regimen is 30 days.
Alternatively, if after the intermediate regimen no noticeable improvement is logged, the logic will retrieve a higher order regi.men:
Day 0 ~D(ID)=0):
a. 4 cc Gallimycin/100 lbs. IM
b. 2 cc IBR (MLV) c. 4 cc Vitamin C/100 lbs. SQ
Day 1:
a. 4 cc Gallimycin~100 lbs. lM
Day 2:
a. 4 cc Gallimycin/100 lbs. lM
b. If acceptable response, administer 1 ; 30 Albon SR bolus/200 lbs.
Withdrawal period for this regimen is 30 days.
` The dose DS(K,ID) for each of the medication(s) DG(K) to be administered to animal ID is then determined by multiplying the dose per unit weight (e.g., 100 pounds) DS(K) by the animal's ~3~3:~

1 weight WT(ID) and rounding to the nearest measure (e.g. to the nearest 5 cc or half bolis), as ~y DStK,ID) = INT(DS(K)~WT(ID)). Equation 6.

Test 43 determines if the withdrawal period for any drug WTH(K) equals or exceeds the scheduled time to market TMKT(ID) for the animal. If so, i.e., if WTH(K) 7~ TMKT(ID), an alert is presented at display 110 (step 44~. In either event, the regimen with doses proper for the subject animal is displayed (step 45) and also printed (at printer 115 of Fig. 1~ if desired.
The user will usually accept the displayed treatment regimen ("NO" branch of test 52~. However, the attendant may intervene by entering an override code at test 52 ("YES" branch mandated) and enter the drug code(s) of drugs to be administered (step 54). This may occur, for example, if a displayed alert (steps 44, 45) is to be honored, thus avoiding a delay in marketing the animal (the time WTH(K) ~ TMKT(ID)) by avoiding non-essential antibiotics or the like for an animal which is seemingly recovering. Program flow returns to step 42 for dose amount computing when an override is in force, and to confirm that withdrawal period alerts are not necessary steps 43 and 44). The override treatment is then displayed (45).
At this point, the user may opt to not institute the treatment ("NO" branch of test 60 returning program flow to the start position to examine the next animal). More typically, however, the diagnostician will elect to proceed ("YES"
branching from test 60). When this occurs, step 62 decrements the inventory records for each drug administered to the animal, as by subtracting the administered amount DS(K,ID) from the inventory amount INV(K) as by .:
INV(K) = INV(K)-DS(K,ID). Equation 7.

l Finally, a record of the treatment administered to the animal is put in his treatment record in RAM storage 104, or more permanent storage means and processing for the animal ID
terminates ~END step 64). The microprocessor 100 may be diverted to other tasks for the animal hospital application or, alternatively, may return to the start node to input the tag number of the next animal to be processed.
The above-described system has thus been shown to accurately and effectively prescribe the preferred daily ; 10 treatment for ill livestock - and to administer proper doses of required medication to suit the animal's specific malady consistent with applicable drug withdrawal regulations.
The above-described arrangement is merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereo~ will be readily apparent to those skille~ in the art.

Claims (12)

1. In combination in a system for selecting and administering one of an array of treatment regimens for livestock, regimen storing means for storing a plurality of disease and animal state-dependent different treatment regimens, means for entering and storing animal condition descriptors, wherein said animal condition descriptors comprise current animal weight, identification and diagnosis wherein said diagnosis is based on an observed disease condition and memory access means responsive to said stored animal condition descriptors for reading an operative treatment regimen from said regimen storing means.

2. A combination as in claim 1, further comprising means for determining a number of days of treatment of an animal under said operative treatment regimen, said memory access means further comprising means responsive to said regimen day determining means for selecting a regimen from said regimen storing means.

3. A combination as in claim 1, further comprising means for storing the time to market for animals treated by the system, means for storing a withdrawal period for drugs administered in an operative regimen, and means selectively signalling when said withdrawal period exceeds said time to market.

4. A combination as in claim 2, further comprising means for storing the time to market for animals treated by the system, means for storing a withdrawal period for drugs administered in an operative regimen, and means selectively signalling when said withdrawal period exceeds said time to market.

5. A combination as in claim 1, wherein said system further comprises display means.

6. A combination as in claim 1, wherein said system further includes weight trend computing means.

7. A combination as in claim 6, wherein said memory access means is further responsive to said weight trend computing means for accessing said regimen storing memory means.

8. A combination as in claim 1, wherein said system further comprises animal temperature storing means.

9. A combination as in claim 8, wherein said regimen memory access means is further responsive to said temperature storing means for accessing said regimen storing memory means.

10. A combination as in claim 8, wherein said system further comprises temperature trend computing means, and wherein said memory access means is further responsive to said temperature trend computing means for accessing said regimen storing memory means.

11. A combination as in claim 1, wherein said memory access means include a microprocessor, and livestock weighing means connected to said microprocessor.

12. A combination as in claim 11, further comprising temperature sensor means, animal identification means, and means connecting said temperature sensor means and identification means with said microprocessor.