Innovations focused on automation and artificial intelligence accounted for half of the double gold star winners at a leading international event for animal breeding this year.
Organizers of SPACE, an annual livestock and poultry trade show held in France, have announced the winners of their Innov’SPACE innovation competition ahead of the three-day event’s opening day on Sept. 13.
Why it matters: Technology can help solve labour challenges in farming as well as improve and expand production by addressing animal health and environmental issues.
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With precision feeding seen as one of the next frontiers in livestock production, French livestock equipment supplier Asserva says its double gold star winning Selfifeeder GFI system allows for individual management of finishing pigs.
Pigs are outfitted with RFID tags and when they enter the individualized feeding station, they are weighed and fed a precise amount of one of two pre-programmed rations based on their weight.
The system tracks each pig’s feeding behaviour, including how many visits it makes to the feeding station and when, how much it eats and how fast, and uses an algorithm to analyze collected data and provide farmers with weight gain and market readiness predictions.
The station is also equipped with a paint marker and can identify which animals have reached appropriate market weights, simplifying sorting and selection of shipping.
CEVA Animal Health has developed an automated system to help with selective deworming on dairy farms. By analyzing dairy performance data, CEVA’s automated TRI sheet identifies dairy cows with priority for deworming, which allows farmers to implement a selective rather than a systemic or whole-herd parasitic treatment system.
The company says this slows the development of resistance to existing parasiticides and reduces on-farm costs.
For horse owners, image collection and analysis are the basis of a new smart system by Copeeks that can provide early detection of when a mare is about to foal. Currently, farms mainly use either a contraction detection belt or accelerometer placed on the pregnant mare to try to anticipate when it will give birth, but these tools aren’t very accurate and are considered invasive.
The HIP’PEEK box is mounted in the stall and takes ongoing pictures and videos of the mare. A customized artificial intelligence algorithm analyzes the captured images to look for any of seven different identified behaviours that indicate labour to predict when the mare will foal and alert barn staff.
French material handling equipment manufacturer Emily has won two gold stars for its Vortex straw blower with autonomous management. With a spreading radius of up to 24 metres (approximately 78 feet), Vortex can handle a wide range of forage in both square and round bales.
According to Emily, what’s unique about this blower is its patented data collection and analysis system that automates management of the rotor and the belts. This reduces the risk of jams and automatically adjusts and optimizes the blower to different types of forage. Vortex also includes a patented system for cutting and extracting bale netting and twine from hay and straw.
The other double gold star winning innovations include:
- An ultrasonic cleaning unit for watering systems in poultry barns to eliminate the build-up of potentially harmful biofilms on the interior of water piping.
- A complete life cycle assessment study of amino acids, including 16 official indicators for lysine, tryptophane, valine, arginine, isoleucine, leucine and histidine for every country producing for the European market to help with the carbon footprint calculation of livestock feed.
- A holder for needle-free swine vaccination devices that speeds up vaccination of pigs and ensures consistency in how vaccines are administered.
- A debris-lifting unit for biodigesters that allows for easy collection and removal of debris from the digester.
The Innov’SPACE competition attracted 103 applicants this year. An independent panel of judges that includes farmers, veterinarians, specialized agricultural journalists, representatives from France’s chambers of agriculture and experts from French technical and research institutions named eight double gold star and 28 single gold star winners.
Entries were evaluated on a range of criteria, including how relevant the innovation will be to farmers and how unique it is compared to other products already on the market.
