Poultry producers could one day use camera technology and advanced image analysis to continuously monitor and track the welfare of commercial broiler flocks.
“Monitoring broiler welfare is quite time consuming and requires special training. In addition, the system is subjective, so gait scoring could change from day to day even in the same person,” said Lasse Lorenzen, Director, Scio+. “Camera can run 24/7/365. What we tell them to observe, they will observe and always tell us the same story. And I think that’s where technology changes the game.”
Phase I SMART Broiler program
Scio+, Big Dutchman AG and SKOV A/S, alongside collaborators at KU Leuven, Purdue University and Aarhus University, were recently named one of six Phase I winners of the SMART Broiler program. As winners, they received $499,649, with additional support provided by Scio+ for a total $1,000,038 award.
The SMART Broiler program, sponsored by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and McDonald’s, is designed to aid the development of automated monitoring tools to assess broiler welfare.
“This program asks us to find ways to use technology in a better way to improve welfare. For Scio+, I think it’s a great opportunity to help farmers improve, but also to provide value to the entire supply chain including processing plants, retailers and consumers,” Lorenzen said.
Designed for ease of use
The camera-based system is designed to easily integrate into existing data management systems used on a farm.
“As a farmer, I have many different farm management systems. This shouldn’t be any different. Farmers will able to see the data in existing data management systems,” Lorenzen explained. “This will function the same as looking into how climate is functioning and allow facilities to monitor feed and water uptake or other natural behaviors.”
The new technology is currently being developed at four test farms in Denmark and the U.S.
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