From prevention to prediction

From helping farm owners with real-time tracking their animals to detecting diseases at the right time, precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies are becoming increasingly common.

Henry, you have spoken about precision livestock farming and integrated health management at several events.  Can you explain what precision livestock farming is and how it contributes to animal welfare? 

Precision Livestock Farming by definition is the continuous, automated, real-time monitoring of animals with the objective to maximize the individual contribution to the benefit of the whole herd’s productivity, health, management and welfare. For that purpose, it uses advanced technologies such as sensors, cameras, microphones to collect data points 24/7 and, therefore, generate information that can contribute to making better and informed decisions. For instance, these technologies can help improve pig barns biosecurity standards and, as a consequence, support enhanced prevention of disease outbreaks, better animal welfare, reduction and overall, more efficient integrated health management.  

That sounds very interesting. Tell us more about how it works. 

Tools like microphones, sensors, cameras and air collectors enable farmers to better and faster understand the behavior and needs of their animals in contrast to the traditional way. As a practical example, SoundTalks microphones can help track the coughing of pigs in the barns and, if a change in such standard is observed, an alert is sent to the veterinarian who can respond in a much faster and timely manner. Being alerted by the monitoring system would allow the veterinarian to collect an air sample (from pigs or even from air!) and, right on the spot via Mobinostics point of care testing platform, get to know which the infectious agent is potentially causing a respiratory infection. This example shows clearly how early prediction can help safeguard pigs, enhance productivity and minimize economic losses. 

COVID-19 has accelerated the use of digital technology in general. Do you think it has also increased the need or demand for PLF? 

I believe that COVID-19 has impacted this space but not necessarily in terms of development of new digital technologies. It has played a fundamental role in accelerating the adoption of the already available ones. With an increased investment in digital solutions during the pandemic, COVID-19 has pushed many to utilize these advanced options rather than the traditional approach. The pandemic has evidently shaped people's mindset to improve monitoring and surveillance methods and, most importantly, enhance the way we use these technologies. 

 In your opinion, what are the possible barriers to implementing PLF successfully? 

There are some challenges to overcome such as infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas. But hopefully, with 5G slowly making its way everywhere, farm owners, producers and veterinarians should be able to tackle this obstacle in the near future. Secondly, there is the economic aspect of investing in technologies. While these technologies certainly make a difference in addressing early signs of health-related issues, determining the value added and return on investment to production is certainly not a neglectable task.