Grand Challenge in Precision Livestock Farming

Abstract

Animal agriculture is a vital social and economic component of human communities, supplying them with food, labor, companionship, and raw material for a myriad of goods. The demand for animal protein and animal products is rapidly growing, given the continued world population growth as well as rising incomes and urbanization, more notably in developing countries (FAO, 2018). However, meeting such an upward demand should comply with moral and economic constraints related to animal welfare and the sustainability of agricultural enterprises while also reducing the environmental impact of animal production systems (FAO, 2017).Precision livestock farming (PLF) proposes to address this challenge by applying technology within the animal space for automated and real-time decision making at the individual animal and group level in livestock production (Berckmans, 2017; Benjamin and Yik, 2019). Data collected by sensors (such as cameras, microphones, accelerometers, gas analyzers, and spectrometers) on animals or on their environment, coupled with advanced analytical techniques, provide efficient tools to monitor animals to improve their welfare and optimize resource use, such as feed, water, land, and human labor. Traditionally, in livestock production, the management unit is generally a herd or flock, e.g. a group of animals in a paddock or housed together within a facility. Typical examples are large beef cattle production in either feedlots or grazing systems and modern producti...