2.4 Performance Monitoring of Animals, Using On-line Computers

Increasing importance is being put on quality control of livestock both from performance and marketing aspects. The breeding of superior stock relies heavily on progeny testing, first in small numbers and later in larger scale field trials. With commercial stock, emphasis is placed on the food conversion efficiency; health of the individual, flock or herd; the market requirement and the likely date of attaining market readiness. All these factors rely heavily on close monitoring of the performance of the stock. However, with increasing pressures for shorter working hours and greater responsibilities per employee, close monitoring is likely to diminish rather than increase, unless modern technology comes to the aid of the producer. Already, electronics have been making inroads in this area. The advantages of using electronics for animal weighing were first demonstrated in the early 70's (Smith and Turner, 1974). Interest has been slow to build up but now most farmers and manufacturers recognize the potential. However, despite using electronic weight indication, the process of animal weighing remains a manual operation involving at least one man, more often two or three. Despite advances in animal handling procedures, in most manual weighing exercises there is always a risk of injury to both stock and men. A system of weighing which removes this risk and reduces stress on the animal would be welcomed by the producer. Electronic aids for milk yield recording and egg production have also been under development for some years (Burgess, 1980; Anon., 1980) but will not be dealt with here. This paper will deal solely with the prospects for fully automatic weight recording of live animals and describe some of the results of work conducted by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering at Silsoe.