Research project will develop precision livestock technology

A research team led by Michigan State University has received a five-year, $1 million USDA grant to develop precision livestock farming technology.

The project, which will focus on pigs and cattle, aims to establish a multidisciplinary network of researchers in animal science, computer science and engineering to improve computer vision systems used in precision livestock farming. According to the announcement, these systems ideally will allow producers to make real-time management decisions at the individual and animal level, thus increasing productivity and profits.

“Due to the costs of technology, widespread implementation of precision livestock farming practices hasn’t occurred,” said Juan Steibel, an MSU associate professor and the principal investigator on the project. “There is a significant need for the costs to be lowered, so there is room for innovation.”

One of the primary goals of the project is to recruit passionate computer scientists and engineers to join precision livestock farming efforts, to improve the quality of data collection, Steibel said.

“Computer vision can really improve livestock farming systems by enhancing animal welfare, monitoring animal behavior, detecting illnesses earlier, and by allowing the assessment and measurement of many animal parameters that are either very difficult or even impossible to measure without the utilization of cameras and computer algorithms,” said Guilherme Rosa, a University of Wisconsin, Madison scientist who’s participating in the project.

“Basically, anything we do today using visually subjective assessment can be done better with computer vision,” Rosa said.