Abstract: A calving monitoring system for monitoring an animal at the end of the expected gestation period includes a camera device for repeatedly taking images of the animal, a control unit for generating calving information from the images taken, and an alert device for sending an alert message according to the calving information generated. The control unit is configured so as, in each image taken, to recognize an animal image, to segment the animal image into multiple animal parts including a torso, to determine a parameter value relating to first pixels of said torso in the taken images as a time-dependent parametric function, and to detect contractions when the parameter value meets a predetermined contraction criterion. The criterion is that the parameter value exhibits at least two peaks in the predetermined time duration which have at least a predetermined minimum width and/or a predetermined minimum height.