Necessity of application of intelligent technology in hog farm
First, reducing human’s contact with hog during the post African swine fever era is the focus of biosafety management. Some unimportant personnel operation links in the hog farm have been removed, so it is necessary for intelligent technology to replace manual operation to reduce the frequency of contact.
Second, improving personnel efficiency is the focus of the collectivized hog farms in the post African swine fever era. Improving per capita production efficiency through intelligent technology will become an urgent task.
Third, the biological flow early warning system is a tool in urgent need under the situation. From outside the hog farm to inside, from the living area to the production area, from people, vehicles and objects to hogs, the huge biological flow monitoring and early warning needs the support of intelligent technology, and finally realizes real-time monitoring and timely early warning.
Application framework of intelligent technology in hog farm
Generalized intelligent technology involves software system, hardware equipment, basic technology and algorithm model. Software system, such as hog farm production management and Enterprise Cloud commonly used in farms; Hardware devices include smart sensors, infrared cameras, wearable devices and smart chips; The basic technology is commonly referred to as ABCD technology( artificial intelligence, blockchain, Cloud computing, big date ), and the algorithm model is a key step to truly realize the transition from artificial to machine learning.
In the actual application scenarios in hog farms, individual identification is the first step of accurate management. It extends from individual identification to hog breeding management, piglet management, feeding and growth management, disease prevention and control, environmental control and herd transfer management. At present, the commonly used technologies include Radio Frequency Identification( RFID ) technology, visual recognition, sound recognition, automatic feeding station, intelligent robot, Internet of things, etc.
Examples of application of intelligent devices in hog farm
- Electronic ear tag and reader
V-ETIC syringe is suitable for hogs wearing low-frequency RFID ear tags. It can collect, store, share and use injection information anytime and anywhere.
- V-ETICRFID syringe
RFID radio frequency identification technology, also known as electronic tag, is applicable to most livestock species. It stores the unique identity information of individual animals by embedding an electronic tag into the parent tag of traditional plastic ear tag, and identifies the electronic tag through wireless signal to obtain ID number, which is used together with reader (radio transceiver). Compared with traditional ear tags, electronic ear tags have outstanding advantages such as non-contact and long-distance identification, unique identity information that can not be tampered with and easy to trace. They can realize real-time connection with production management software to input data, adapt to the harsh environment of hog farms, and greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of data entry. At present, low-frequency electronic ear markers (134.2khz) are widely used, such as breeding management, automatic feeding stations, etc., while ultra-high-frequency electronic ear markers that can realize the effect of group recognition will gradually mature and be applied in the management and traceability system of fattening groups.
- Face recognitionof hogs
Like human face recognition technology, hog face recognition is a kind of biometric technology based on the construction of AI algorithm. Animal identity recognition is realized through animal shape features such as the distance between two eyes, the position of mouth, the width of skull, pattern and body proportion. The main technical difficulties are the short growth cycle of hogs, the quick change of appearance. At the same time, the hogs in herd are often in motion and rarely face the camera. Even the pig face closed in the limit bar is easily blocked by the fence, so it is difficult to collect data. More importantly, there is a lack of data on the body shape changes of different breeds of pigs during growth.
- Sow management
Monitoring the reproductive status and health status of sows through the behavior analysis and body temperature change has a great application significance for timely detection of estrus, estrus return, disease early warning and remote cooperation.
The electronic doctor judges the estrus timing and health status of sows by monitoring the core temperature all day, so as to provide a certain basis for accurate breeding timing and disease early warning.
- Piglet management
The multifunctional treatment vehicle for delivery room piglets developed by Anlefu, a brand of Moshadong Animal Health Intelligence, can realize operation process of delivery room from catching pigs, ear labeling, weighing, recording, tail cutting, oral insect repellent, nose dropping pseudorabies, iron supplement, health care and vaccination, greatly reduce the labor cost, reduce the waste of drugs and vaccines, reduce the wound infection of piglets and improve the survival rate of delivery room piglets.
The SmartGuard system developed by the Iowa entrepreneurship project can monitor the pitch, intensity and duration of piglets' screams in the delivery room in real time, and determine whether the piglets are in distress or normal screams. When a piglet is pressed, the device sends vibration to the sow's wearable device to remind the sow to stand or transpose, so as to rescue the pressed piglet.
- Feeding management
At present, the inventory and weight estimation of growing hogs are hot spots in research and development all over the world. Based on the accurate management of the growth process of hogs, the “Pasture Watcher” developed by a company in Beijing, China, wears visual ear tags or electronic ear tags for each hog, which refines the management granularity to a single fat hog, and monitors the daily weight growth and back fat change curve of each pig, The feed strategy module is adjusted according to the weight, and the feed, water and environmental indicators can be optimized in combination with the Internet of things technology.
- Disease management
Fancom company's cough monitor, including a computer with special sound analysis function and a microphone suspended in the fence, uses the sound analysis function to filter other sounds of hogs and record the cough behavior, which can be used to detect the breathing problems at an early stage.
