Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Animal Science, Egg Industry Center
Document Type
Article
Conference
10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2018
First Page
ILES18-018
DOI
10.13031/iles.18-018
Conference Title
10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)
Conference Date
September 25-27, 2018
City
Omaha, NE
Abstract
Behavior studies in commercial swine farrowing room environments often need to monitor each set of sow and piglets individually and simultaneously. Autonomous computer imaging systems can overcome this challenge. The system presented here utilizes a time of flight depth sensor and a digital camera to capture depth and digital images of each sow and litter, housed in individual farrowing stalls. Depth sensors were centered above the stalls on a triangular truss spanning the length of the farrowing room and mounted in waterproof boxes with attached lids, enabling them to easily be waterproofed when cleaning the farrowing room. Each depth sensor was controlled by a mini-PC housed in a waterproof box located on the wall behind the sow for protection of the electronics. Each box also contained a small display monitor for operator ease of access. Images were acquired continuously at 0.2 fps. Data files were transmitted via Ethernet cable to a switch, then to a disk station for storage. This system was implemented in three farrowing rooms, with each room housing 20 sows. Recorded image data were subsequently analyzed to quantify behaviors of the sows and piglets (future work) as affected by dimensions and layout of the farrowing stalls.
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Leonard, Suzanne; Xin, Hongwei; Brown-Brandl, Tami; and Ramirez, Brett C., "An Image Acquisition System for Studying Behaviors of Sows and Piglets in Farrowing Barns" (2018). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Conference Proceedings and Presentations. 573.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf/573
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Poultry or Avian Science Commons
Comments
This presentation is published as Leonard, Suzanne M., Hongwei Xin, Tami Brown-Brandl, and Brett C. Ramirez. "An Image Acquisition System for Studying Behaviors of Sows and Piglets in Farrowing Barns." 10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X). Omaha, NE. September 25-27, 2018. Paper No. ILES18-018. DOI: 10.13031/iles.18-018.