Improving pig production: a whole system approach. Insights and proposals from PigSys
Résumé
Suboptimal resource utilization due to outdated building standards, control systems and barn management approaches results in high emissions and losses within EU pig production. Additionally, with increasing concern for animal welfare, pig farmers are struggling to maintain competitiveness. The PigSys project addresses these issues by considering a whole system improvement towards a future sustainable and animal friendly pig production. The developed data warehouse platform is accessible to end-users to collect information on building characteristics and data from on-farm equipment, to connect them with a decision support system (DSS based on a bioclimatic model called ThermiPig). The DSS simulates the thermal balance and climatic conditions of a fattening room depending on a farmer’s decisions. A system using deep learning and machine vision techniques was developed to monitor pig behavior, providing a tool for early warning of problems related to pig welfare and health. New sensor data was used to evaluate level of noxious gases that impact pig performance and welfare. Pig cooling with showers over the slatted area and increasing air velocity at pig lying area were cost-effective options improving hygiene and mitigating ammonia emissions, both being crucial for improved environmental and social acceptability. Models to assess the trade-offs between environmental and bio-economic impacts of different pig housing and manure management were developed.