May 25, 2021
 

HKScan system employs AI at broiler farm

HKScan's Agrofood Ecosystem pilot uses artificial intelligence to monitor the behaviour of broiler chickens on it Kariniemen Kotitila farm, the company announced on May 18.

According to the data concerning the two first flocks of birds, the activity level of broilers was maintained throughout the rearing period.

The Agrofood Ecosystem helps to support animal welfare with monitoring based on the employment of artificial intelligence and cameras. The advantage of smart cameras is that they can be used to monitor broilers and conditions even when the farmer is not present. As a result, transparency in primary production increases.

In the pilot project, smart cameras were installed on HKScan's Kariniemen Kotitila farm at the start of January. Artificial intelligence is taught to identify the forms of natural behaviour in broilers from video material. In broilers, key behavioural forms are identified to be pecking.

Based on the behavioural data of the first and second flocks, it can be assumed that the natural behaviour of broilers occurs throughout the rearing period. There are interesting variations in behaviours over the weeks. For example, chicks preen themselves more whereas older broilers prefer bathing and searching for food by scratching and pecking the litter.

"Through our farm-level pilot projects, we have new, advanced practical knowledge about animal behaviour. Together with the animal welfare experts of the Natural Resources Institute Finland, we were looking for information on the subject, but, unfortunately, couldn't find a reliable ready-to-use method for monitoring the behaviour and activity of broilers," said HKScan's veterinarian Leena Pohjola.

"That's why we decided open-mindedly to start developing such a method ourselves together with Empirica Finland Oy. The data shows that the broiler activity remains or even increases towards the end of the rearing period. This result also (aids) what broiler farmers themselves have observed while caring for the animals."

"We already have over 1,000 hours of video footage from the farm to analyse the behaviour of the broilers. The pilot utilises new technologies such as edge computing and artificial intelligence. With edge computing, the material can be processed on the farm and only the results are transferred over the network," said Jan Borgelin, chief executive officer of Empirica Finland Oy.

Data collection and modelling will continue at the farm. The third flock of birds in the project was given fresh enrichment with the goal of further strengthening the natural behaviour.

- HKScan