invaluable in determining a status condition of the animal for example during parturition it is important to know that the animal stands quickly postpartum this indicates that the mother is able to foster and cleanse its offspring the apparatus may further include a plurality of remote sensors 207 positioned elsewhere on the animal outside of the housing of the unit 115 such as sensors for measuring body temperature humidity ph of biological fluids electrical potentials from physiological processes hall effects optical sensors of blood flow or blood oxygenation vocalisation and respiration breath and saliva contents environment temperature and humidity these remote sensors may be found in an ingested bolus 113 or patches 109 111 additional remote sensors may be included in the eartags 103 head collar 105 and or leg attachment 107 in an alternative arrangement the unit 115 may be mounted in the eartag 103 head collar 105 or leg attachment 107 etc the unit 115 further comprises a local processor 209 which is connected to the sensors 201 203 205 via respective analogue to digital converters 211 _ 1 211 _ 2 and 211 _ 3 the plurality of remote sensors 207 is connected to the processor 209 via a wireless link such as short wave radio the outputs of the remote sensors 207 are digitised via respective analogue to digital converters.