Automated recording of animal welfare indicators in poultry. Sub-projects: Automated recording of skin and sternum damage in laying hens at the slaughterhouse Early detection of cannibalism in turkeys in the flock (AutoWohl)
(Kopie 1)
Project Leader: Jung, Lisa; Gonzalez, Jennifer; Prof. Dr. Knierim, Ute
Project description:
A
newly developed automated, image-based recording system of the animal welfare indicator
'sternum status' at the slaughterhouse was validated on more than 2000 laying hens
and brought to practical maturity. In order to test the transferability of the results to the
farm situation, the prevalence of
sternum damage was recorded in 20 flocks prior to removal from housing, after catching
and transportation at the live receiving area and at the slaughter chain. It was found that catching and transport
did not result in any detectable damage and that the automated
recording led to a slight underestimation of the prevalence. The system
offers the possibility to record the sternum status in many flocks over long periods of time
in a comparable manner and to provide feedback to the
laying hen farmers. In contrast, the development of a recording system for
skin lesions was not possible under practical conditions in the slaughter chain
. Two approaches were pursued for a possible cannibalism early warning system for fattening turkeys
: Metal balls equipped with a microphone
were developed, with which pecking frequencies
can be reliably detected in the barn using a CNN model. Using optical flow, changes
in general activity were recorded automatically. Both methods have been largely
validated and are ready for use. Correlations with the occurrence of cannibalism
have not yet been found; however, this still requires further investigation.
In
cooperation with the company CLK GmbH, which was responsible for the technical aspects of the
project, as well as with the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation (project coordination), the University of Munich and Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Barnstorfer Geflügelschlachterei and Heidemark GmbH
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag, see www.ble.de/ptble/innovationsfoerderung-bmel/
Publications:
2020 | |
2020 |