Automated Pig Localization

Lead Institute AT Institute of Agricultural Technology

Model pigsty with locating system

Automated Pig Localization in Pigsties

The current localization of pigs in pigsties can be done manually by animal observations, in a limited scope by RFID transponders or by video analysis, whereby the recognition of individual animals are problematic.
The localization data can be used for example to evaluate the animal husbandry, the individual animal welfare and the herd dynamics, so that problems can be detected and remedied faster by developed algorithms.

Background and Objective

The background of this project is the continuing rising trend of the number of pigs per farmer with the consequences of:

less time for individual animal control by farmers
continuous increasing demand of society for higher animal welfare in livestock farming

The aims of this project include:

permanent individual animal monitoring
online rating of animal welfare
Optimization of pigsty systems
increasing social acceptance for livestock farming

Target Group

Science and Research
Industrial Companies
Pig Farmers

Approach

selection an evaluation of suitable localization systems
integration of a localization system into a model pigsty
miniaturization of the localization technology for placing it into ear tags to develop sensor ear tags
development of an energy supply for the sensor ear tags
integration of the localization system into a pigsty (at first on a trial operation)
recording the localization data and developing algorithms to rate the individual animal welfare