Image and sound processing applied to precision animal management

• Grant number: 21/07127-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2021
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Rural Buildings and Ambience
• Principal Investigator: Késia Oliveira da Silva Miranda
• Grantee: Késia Oliveira da Silva Miranda
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Isabella Cardoso Ferreira da Silva Condotta ; Tami M. Brown-Brandl
• Associated research grant(s): 22/00647-3 - International exchange for the development of precision livestock farming programming, AP.R SPRINT

Abstract

For decades, farmers have detected issues in animal health and well-being by observing changes in behavior, but this process is time-consuming and requires an in-depth understanding of animal production. To create a more efficient animal monitoring process, researchers have developed new methods using digital images/sound to automatically detect behaviors associated with management issues. Therefore, the goal of this proposal is to determine animal weight, activity level, and incidence of lameness in production animals using time-of-flight depth cameras, which provide distance measurements between objects and the camera at each pixel location, digital image analyze and vocalization. Local processing of information will provide continuous monitoring and documentation of animal well-being. With the end product, producers can detect problems sooner, which may lead to a better understanding of practices or environments that lead to issues. In turn, this will allow producers to make more timely management decisions and potentially forecast and prevent future issues. (AU)