Pigs and Poultry - Agri-EPI Centre - Engineering Precision Innovation

Pigs and Poultry

Supporting pigs and poultry farmers; collaborating with scientists and researchers, academics and retailers. Agri-EPI explores and delivers precision farming engineering, technology and innovation in UK agriculture across soil, crops and livestock. Collaborating on projects throughout the UK and abroad, learn about our latest projects, government regulation and policy, innovation and new technology.

New tech to transform global agriculture – 2021 Excellence Awards winners announced

New technology is set to transform global agriculture, and two agtech companies recognised for their importance in animal health and environmental protection are making rapid progress.

The first – awarded for its contribution to British agriculture – focuses on animal health. Pruex is using non-infective bacteria to improve air quality in poultry units, reducing ammonia emissions and the requirement for antibiotics..

ALVÁTECH Water – awarded for its global impact – has developed a clean, sustainable way to desalinise soil, enabling farmers to irrigate with saline water, reduce water use and even restore salinized soil to healthy, productive farmland.

Both companies were recognised at Agri-EPI’s inaugural Agri-Tech Excellence Awards in October 2021, and are now reaping the rewards of their success by extending their commercial reach around the globe.

“Last year we grew very fast, and we’re now planning a large funding round to further expand worldwide,” explains Zac Gazit, CEO at ALVÁTECH. “We started working with Agri-EPI in December 2020 as we realised they could help with several key things. They know the industry and trends in technology, and we were looking to work with farmers and governments.”

One of the biggest benefits of winning this important award – aside from the global prestige – is an introduction to the formidable judging panel, comprising Syngenta, Kubota, Leyton, Barclays and Marks & Spencer.

“M&S is buying fresh produce from farmers using our devices, and we’re having good, constructive conversations with the whole panel; there are synergies in our ethos and business and we hope to be able to work with all of them.”

ALVÁTECH is now working in 24 countries across six continents, both with government and non-governmental organisations as well as directly with 1000s of farmers.

“Our technology dissociates salt into its components which enables farmers to immediately use less water and fertilisers,” says Mr Gazit. “It is a life-changer for entire regions and millions of farmers in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.”

Farmers are using 20-60 less water, 30% less fertiliser, and are reducing soil salinity by 30% on average. As a result, yields are boosted over 20% – although the more degraded the soil the greater the scale of improvement farmers see.

“Our farmers are reducing costs while improving the soil for the next generation. This is an important green legacy for our planet.”

Pruex is in a similar position; it’s working with 1000s of farmers across the UK, Europe and South Africa, and looks forward to having discussions with M&S following the award.

Using beneficial bacteria to compete with disease-causing strains is a relatively new concept, but Pruex’s game-changing idea is an automated spraying system to apply the bacteria throughout the sheds. This not only benefits the chickens themselves, but also reduces ammonia emissions. This improves air quality for workers and birds, boosting productivity and the birds’ immune systems, and many farms are able to reduce their use of antibiotics; reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance.

“It’s proving very popular,” says Sarah Dusgate, research and development manager at Pruex. “We’ve been working with poultry farmers from the start of the business, but we have developed a new technology that will help to deploy our bacteria products more effectively and easily.”

· For more information visit https://agri-epicentre.com, www.alva-water.com or www.pruex.co.uk.

Upskilling industry with AHDB Developing Pig Expertise Programme

AHDB is currently seeking participants to join the pilot Developing Pig Expertise (DPE) Programme. The DPE Programme is a series of practical workshops during which individuals working in the pig industry can share knowledge and experience to build an increased understanding of how value is created along the supply chain. We invite our members to look into the details of the DPE Programme and submit expressions of interest.

Pig Development programme

The Developing Pig Expertise (DPE) Programme is being piloted to provide professional development to individuals that advise pig producers and upskill new entrants to the industry. DPE has been influenced by the successful AHDB Beef & Lamb Developing Expertise programmes, AHDB Educational Strategy, and Knowledge Exchange (KE) offer within the academic and commercial sectors.

The aim of the DPE Programme is to widen the network of experts available to support the AHDB Pork Knowledge Exchange delivery plan, including:

  • Facilitation of and presentation at events and training courses
  • Contribution to resource development, including written materials, tools and videos
  • Technical input within the Farm Excellence programme
  • Engagement within the Pig Innovation Network (PiN) and H2020 EUPiG project

Further information about AHDB Pork can be found on the website.

Detecting pig tail biting by TailTech

Tail biting in pigs is viewed as one of the most widespread and seriously aggressive behaviours that can manifest in a pigpen. Discover TailTech — a radical high-tech solution devised by Scottish scientists as an alternative to the controversial last-resort practice of tail docking in piglets.  For more information about the TailTech pig welfare project, click here.

Stay informed

Keep up to date with the latest impact and results of our work, plus, news, innovation and approaches across the sector. Read our latest news and Agri-EPI blogs.

3D cameras to save pigs’ tails

A new high-tech solution to the problem of tail biting in pigs has been devised by Scottish scientists and could become an alternative to the controversial last-resort practice of tail docking. The research is a collaboration between Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Scottish farm technology company Innovent Technology Ltd, pig supply chain partners including north-east animal feed firm Harbro, and the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI).

3D cameras

The initiative is designed to drive higher welfare standards on farms and involves a system of 3D cameras which are installed above feeders to detect whether a pig’s tail is up and curly, or held down against the body, which researchers have shown is a sign that tail biting is about to begin.

The work was carried out using 23 groups of weaner-grower pigs which were regularly scored for any signs of tail injury, and tail biting was stopped as soon as an outbreak was detected.

It has been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. Lead author of the study, Dr Rick D’Eath from SRUC, said:

“Tail biting results in pain and sickness for bitten pigs and severe economic losses for farmers as infection through tail wounds results in abattoir condemnation of meat. This condemnation alone can cost a producer up to 1% of the carcase value and a loss for the processor of 1% of saleable carcase from the pig. There are also unquantified on-farm costs as a result of the increased labour and veterinary treatments resulting from an outbreak. Tail docking of piglets is partly effective at reducing tail biting in later life, but is seen as an undesirable mutilation and its routine use is banned in the EU.”

He said that automatically measuring tail posture could act as an early warning of tail biting. Dr D’Eath added: “The challenge for us now is to develop this promising technology into a robust on-farm early warning system that works on any pig farm.”

Innovate UK funded

The work is to be developed in a follow-on Innovate UK-funded project called ‘TailTech‘, which will collect data from more diverse pig farms and develop and test a prototype early warning system. Other pig supply partners will also be involved, including pig breeders JSR Genetics, engineers David Ritchie Ltd, pig vets Garth Pig Practice and farmers’ co-operative Scottish Pig Producers.

Grant Walling, director of science and technology at JSR Genetics, said:

We recognise that tail biting impacts on animal welfare, farm productivity and pork quality. Any tool that can help reduce or eradicate the problem is a benefit to the whole supply chain. This technology has the potential to predict future victims so offers opportunities to update and include information within our selection strategies to reduce the incidence of tail-biting in future generations.

 

Source: This article has been published on The Press and Journal at 14th April 2018 (author Nancy Nicolson)

Stay informed

Keep up to date with the latest impact and results of our work, plus, news, innovation and approaches across the sector. Read our latest news and Agri-EPI blogs.

Tell-tail signs: using technology to combat tail biting in pigs

A high-tech system involving 3D cameras could help UK farmers spot the early warning signs of tail biting in pigs – a health and welfare concern in affected pigs and an economic concern for industry.

New research by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) has revealed that pigs hold their tails down against their body when tail biting is about to begin. Experiments saw 3D cameras placed above feeders to automatically measure whether their tails were up and curly, or held down.

The research was carried out using 23 groups of weaner-grower pigs which were regularly scored for any signs of tail injury. The animals were closely monitored and tail biting was stopped as soon as an outbreak was detected.

Tail biting

Outbreaks of tail biting have no single cause – there are a number of contributory factors that could include elements of the pig’s genetics, nutrition, environment and management. Outbreaks can occur unpredictably and quickly spread. Tail docking can be used as a measure to control tail biting, however this is no longer seen as an acceptable routine solution to prevent against outbreaks.

The research, which has been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, was the result of a collaboration between SRUC animal behaviour and welfare experts, Scottish farm technology company Innovent Technology Ltd, pig supply chain partners including feed company Harbro and Sainsbury’s supermarkets, and the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Agri-EPI).

Lead author Dr Rick D’Eath from SRUC said:

“Tail biting results in pain and sickness for bitten pigs and severe economic losses for farmers as infection through tail wounds results in abattoir condemnation of meat. This condemnation alone can cost a producer up to 1 per cent of the carcase value and a loss for the processer of 1 per cent of saleable carcase from the pig.

There are also unquantified on-farm costs as a result of the increased labour and veterinary treatments resulting from an outbreak. Tail docking of piglets is partly effective at reducing tail biting in later life, but is seen as an undesirable mutilation and its routine use is banned in the EU.

This research has achieved everything we hoped for. We can automatically measure tail posture, and we’ve proved it can act as an early warning of tail biting. The challenge for us now is to develop this promising technology into a robust on-farm early warning system that works on any pig farm.”

This ‘proof of concept’ will now be developed in a follow-on Innovate UK-funded project called “TailTech”, which will collect data from more diverse pig farms and develop and test a prototype early warning system. It strengthens the consortium with additional pig supply chain partners: pig breeders JSR Genetics, engineers David Ritchie Ltd, pig vets Garth Pig Practice and farmers’ co-operative Scottish Pig Producers.

Dave Stephenson, head of Pig and Poultry at Harbro, said:

“TailTech is another example of a key initiative from the British pig industry designed to drive higher welfare standards on farm.

We’ve been delighted to partner fellow organisations from across the supply chain in seizing the vast opportunities that technology can bring to improve conditions for the animals we feed on a daily basis.”

Grant Walling, director of science and technology at JSR Genetics, said:

“We recognise that tail biting impacts on animal welfare, farm productivity and pork quality. Any tool that can help reduce or eradicate the problem is a benefit to the whole supply chain.

This technology has the potential to predict future victims so offers opportunities to update and include information within our selection strategies to reduce the incidence of tail-biting in future generations.”

Innovent Technology Ltd already produces a camera-based pig weighing system Qscan (sold internationally through SKOV as ProGrow), and the tail-biting detection system will be developed as an add-on to that technology.

Video about Tall-tail signs

Source: SRUC

Stay informed

Keep up to date with the latest impact and results of our work, plus, news, innovation and approaches across the sector. Read our latest news and Agri-EPI blogs.