Precision Livestock Farming
Precision Livestock Farming is a term from agriculture and describes a complex of topics relating to data processing and analysis of animal-related data. This data is used to analyze and optimize animal welfare, animal health and the management of farm animals.
aims
The goal of Precision Livestock Farming is traditionally to support economic goals in animal husbandry . In addition to the economic optimization of animal husbandry, optimization in the area of animal welfare and environmental protection plays a major role in the development of applications for Precision Livestock Farming. These fit in with the social demands on animal production in agriculture. The aim is to ensure the quality and safety of the diet, to support efficient and sustainable animal nutrition, to ensure the health of the animals and to keep the negative effects of animal husbandry on the environment to a minimum.
The social and legal requirements for animal nutrition are complex and can often only be met by ever larger companies and through the use of machines and complex IT systems .
Economic animal husbandry
Based on scientific studies, the needs of an animal for the respective stage of life (young animal, ...) and the individual requirements (fattening, pregnant, ...) are known. Based on this requirement, an optimal ration can be calculated depending on the raw materials available, with which the animal can be adequately fed. The requirement is based on the individual ingredient values - falling below the requirement figures can have a negative effect on animal health, while exceeding them makes no economic sense (but is also not harmful). The goal of Precision Livestock Farming is to provide an economically sensible ration that meets the needs of the animal.
quality and safety
Economic factors play an important role in animal nutrition, because the companies involved live from the industrial fattening and further processing of the animals. Nevertheless, the other goals of Precision Livestock Farming must not be ignored. The legislator and industry associations set quality standards. Social norms must also be observed in animal nutrition.
Quality is reflected in the following factors:
- Quality of the raw materials used
- Animal husbandry quality
- Quality of operational processes
An example of problems with the quality of animal feed is the (nowadays often illegal) use of animal meal .
Organic animal husbandry
The targeted selection of the raw materials to be fed can reduce the environmental impact. For example, it is possible to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in the excretions of pigs by optimizing the feed beforehand.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Büscher: [1] (PDF) German Agricultural Society eV (DLG eV)
- ^ Eva Gallmann: Lecture in the module Applied Methods of Precision Livestock Farming at the University of Hohenheim, summer semester 2016
- ↑ a b Daniel Berckmans: Automatic On-Line Monitoring of Animals by Precision Livestock ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 353 kB) International Society for Animal Hygiène - Saint-Malo - 2004
- ^ Gene M. Pesti, Bill R. Miller: Animal feed formulation: economics and computer applications Springer, 1993 - ISBN 978-0-442-01335-6
- ^ Frank T. Jones: Quality Control in Feed Manufacturing Feedstuffs Reference Issue and Buyers - 2001
- ↑ Mark S. Honeyman: Environment-friendly swine feed formulation to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus excretion American Journal of Alternative Agriculture - Volume 8, pp. 128-132-1993
