1 Creating Sensor Systems for Real Time Animal Management

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable animal production needs to consider all aspects of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. Important aspects include 1) waste and odor management, greenhouse gas emissions; 2) animal care and well-being, labor needs, worker safety, and satisfaction; 3) careful use of antibiotics, food safety, and foreign animal disease; and 4) all while the producer needs to make the business show a profit. New technological approaches for building management, animal monitoring, and care should be carefully considered to help satisfy these pressures and concerns. Increases in computing power, sensor systems, and modeling techniques lend themselves to technological advancements in animal agriculture. Research has shown promising results for implementing multiple sensor systems. Precision animal management systems use a variety of sensors to capture real-time data on individual animals and new modeling techniques to process the data into valuable information to aid management decisions. However, data streams from different sources can be problematic. This presentation aims to provide an understanding of current and future technologies and the advantages, difficulties, and pitfalls of processing and combining different types of real-time data. Current technologies used in precision animal management systems include sound, images, and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. Steps to a successful system include 1) evaluating the needs of the producers and the animals, 2) selecting appropriate sensors, and 3) understanding both the value and the limitation of the captured data and the data processing.