Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • FREE Email Newsletters
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • FREE Magazine Subscriptions
    Twitter LinkedIn
    Podcast
    Poultry News
    • Production
      • Broiler Production
      • Ducks
      • Egg Production
      • Game
      • Hatching
      • Housing
      • Turkeys
    • Processing
    • Business & Politics
      • Business
      • Economics
      • EU & Politics
      • Marketing
      • People
      • Training & Education
    • Welfare
      • Environment
      • Food Safety
      • Vet & Medication
      • Welfare
    • Feed
    • Genetics
    • New Products
    • Magazines
      1. July 2022
      2. June 2022
      3. May 2022
      4. April 2022
      5. February 2022
      6. January 2022
      Featured

      Protected: Poultry Business – August 2022

      By Michael BarkerJuly 26, 2022
      Recent

      Protected: Poultry Business – August 2022

      July 26, 2022

      Protected: Health Supplement 2022

      July 25, 2022

      Protected: Poultry Business – July 2022

      June 28, 2022
    • Jobs
      • Browse Jobs
      • Post a Job
      • Manage Jobs
    • Events
      • National Egg and Poultry Awards
      • Poultry Fair
    Poultry News
    Production

    Analysis: What is technology doing to poultry farms?

    Chloe RyanBy Chloe RyanAugust 3, 20208 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

    Computers are doing jobs that once only experienced stockmen did. At what cost, asks poultry farmer James Smaldon.

    James Smaldon is a third-generation poultry farmer from North Devon. He is a Nuffield Scholar and his report into the relationship between poultry farming and new technology has just been published.

    Technology is playing a growing role on poultry farms and in the whole poultry supply chain. Smaldon argues this is not always because the technology is wanted, but because it is needed, due to a shortage of skilled people to work on poultry farms.

    But Smaldon wants to know what the costs are. “What happens with bird welfare when we increase the level of technology on our poultry farms and what strategies are there to minimise any reduction in their welfare?” he asks.

    Asleep at the wheel

    “There have been instances where Tesla drivers have been seen sleeping whilst driving, and we cannot allow an analogous experience to happen within poultry farms,” he says.

    Smaldon’s report delves into the increasing use of technologies including precision livestock farming (PLF) and robots that are already or soon to be available to the UK poultry industry. He also seeks to understand what exactly bird welfare is, stripping away anthropomorphism and perception bias. Then he presents concepts to help poultry farmers, developers and the wider poultry industry to describe what is out there to help improve bird welfare in conjunction with improving productivity.

    “The symbioses between technology and farming have always been at the forefront of my mind,” Smaldon writes. He describes working with a member of the farm team, Hazel, who has worked with his family since before his birth. “She is a stockperson to the core, but hates computers,” Smaldon writes. “She believes that computers can provide a lot of benefit to farms, but that it makes workers lethargic and lessens the stockmanship ability of inexperienced people.”

    This is the crux of the issue Smaldon explores in this report. “I am an advocate of technology on our farms,” he says. “I can see how technology may result in productivity improvements both inside and outside the poultry sheds, but the main implication of such a technological step-up is that the stockmanship may well decrease and so counterbalance any perceived automation benefits.”

    What is good welfare?

    Bird welfare can be optimised through caring stockpeople; high quality inputs of feed and water; a housing environment designed to encourage play and provide access to the outdoors; and for the genetics of the bird to be optimised, such that the bird is willing to express their natural behaviours, Smaldon writes.

    A huge range of equipment is used within UK poultry farms: for example, within the broiler breeder sector, there are farms with individual thermostats beneath individual fans, which turn the fan on when a specific temperature is reached: whereas other farms use advanced climate computers to incorporate as many sensors as possible to form a model of the poultry shed.

    Experiences from around the world

    At the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, Smaldon met Dr Martin Zuidhof who has been working to provide individual feeding to chickens. It is a simple concept that has taken years to develop into a fully-functioning project.

    With Dr Zuidhof’s chicken coop, a bird walks up the ramp to the first of two compartments, where it’s weighed and, if the bird is already at target weight, they are gently ejected. If they’re under the target weight, the bird is allowed into the second compartment, where they’re rewarded with some feed. Birds are able to request feed as many times during the day as they want, but once they’ve hit the target weight, there’ll be no more feed available.

    With this precision feeding system, flock uniformity dramatically increases for broiler breeders; where conventional feeding systems produce around 55% uniformity at 22 weeks old, precision feeding allows for 100% uniformity. They have also seen fertility increase by nearly 4%; gut health improvements since each bird feeds between 5 and 10 times during the day as opposed to conventionally feeding birds once a day; and welfare improvements as individual birds are able to feed when they wish to and so there is less competition and stress for the available feed.

    Lessons from Cobb

    Siloam Springs, Arkansas, is the global headquarters of one of the largest poultry producers in the US and one of the largest broiler breed companies in the world. This is no small coincidence, as Cobb Vantress is a subsidiary of Tyson Foods. Smaldon spent a few days with Roy Mutimer, the head of operations at Cobb (since his visit, Roy Mutimer has become managing director of Cobb Europe).

    Smaldon and Mutimer discussed how Cobb is using increasing levels of technology to help manage its research programme. The reality is that computer systems in poultry units are already very sophisticated, but most have relatively poor user interface design, writes Smaldon.

    “An example given to me was that when a member of the Cobb technical team travels to a farm to help them with their flock, this mostly involves training the farm staff on how to use the systems they already have, not to implement anything new. The people managing the birds need to be able to understand and utilise the systems at their disposal. The next generation will take to these systems much more easily than current farm staff; as they have been immersed in a world of tablets and smartphones they will come to see the technology as a prerequisite, not a perk.”

    Maximising genetic potential

    Teun van der Braak is a product manager at Hendrix Genetics in Boxmeer. Smaldon met him during his visit to the Netherlands in early 2020.

    Like the broiler breeding companies, Hendrix has been utilising technology within its breeding programme; the pure line birds have RFIDs, and automatic reviews of grandparent genetic profiles are performed to ensure correct parents (before genomics, they had a 5% parentage error rate which is now down to 0.1%).

    Teun and Smaldon spoke for an afternoon about the intricacies and nuances of layer breeding. “I had no idea that the genetic potential of a chicken is more than 10,000 eggs,” says Smaldon. “ Hendrix are finding that the best producing hens can lay 575 eggs in 576 days, and are expecting an additional week of production per year of development.”

    The benefits

    It’s clear there are massive benefits to productivity from technology. However, there are pitfalls. “Technology does not care,” writes Smaldon. “Technology does not feel empathy. Technology does not ‘think on its feet’. However, technology also doesn’t come to work angry, does not fall ill and does not make silly mistakes.” This means the link between human and animal is necessary and absolute.

    “My findings showed that both precision and autonomous technology can provide benefits to the poultry industry, with a variety of robots, computer systems and revolutionary systems nearing commercial viability,” he says.

    “Human connection with our animals is the most important link in the technological chain; we are here to make key decisions, to take responsibility, and to react to situations which cannot be predicted. The role of stockpeople will shift; there will be less manual handling, increased supervision of equipment, and vastly increased time to be actual stockpeople.”

    He points out that during the adoption of technology, novel systems are likely to create a ‘welfare falter’ which represents a temporary drop in bird welfare through a lack of competency with these systems.

    However manufacturers and farmers should be able to minimise the reduction in welfare to an absolute minimum and for the shortest period possible. “In summary, technology is here to stay and, whilst some may resist its adoption within poultry farms, it is better to embrace, learn, understand and share so that farmers, consumers and – most importantly – the birds all benefit.”

     Key findings.

    1. Do not assume that people can be reduced or removed. Technology needs to complement and augment people, not be a substitute.
    2. Developing technology is usually done by those with an intrinsic understanding of technology. Farming is usually done by those with an intrinsic understanding of animals. There are very few people where these two fields overlap. Technology must be developed to:
    3. a) be familiar to those with limited technology understanding.
    4. b) make the easiest action, the correct action. Preferred actions should not be hidden beneath menus.
    5. c) Provide visibility to the full capabilities (whether immediately or through progression) of the technology and provide everyday analogies to aid understanding.
    6. Welfare Falter can be mitigated through a number of strategies:
    7. a) bring stockpeople on the journey, as opposed to imposing technology upon them,
    8. b) provide training for people to understand what they don’t know, so that focus is retained, and
    9. c) Embrace early adopters and help them progress through the stages of competence.
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
    Previous ArticleAnimal by-product processing facility underway in Cheshire
    Next Article Comment: I’m taking the reigns at a crucial time for British poultry
    Chloe Ryan

    Editor of Poultry Business, Chloe has spent the past decade writing about the food industry from farming, through manufacturing, retail and foodservice. When not working, dog walking and reading biographies are her favourite hobbies.

    Read Similar Stories

    Egg Production

    Morrisons becomes first supermarket to launch its own carbon neutral eggs

    August 4, 2022
    Broiler Production

    New record flock performance at Moy Park farm in Lincolnshire

    August 1, 2022
    Hatching

    Sales and profits up at PD Hook Breeders

    August 1, 2022
    Most Read

    NFU calls on government for immediate action on labour shortages

    August 5, 2022

    Morrisons becomes first supermarket to launch its own carbon neutral eggs

    August 4, 2022

    Liz Truss pledges to support farmers with deregulation if elected

    August 3, 2022
    © 2022 Lewis Business Media. All Rights Reserved.
    Lewis Business Media, Suite A, Arun House, Office Village, River Way, Uckfield, TN22 1SL

    Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions

    • AA Farmer
    • Farm Contractor
    • Pig World
    • OvertheCounter

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “ACCEPT ALL”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsREJECT ALLAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
    CookieDurationDescription
    AWSALBCORS7 daysThis cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing.
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Necessary" category .
    PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
    Others
    Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
    CookieDurationDescription
    AWSALB7 daysAWSALB is a cookie generated by the Application load balancer in the Amazon Web Services. It works slightly different from AWSELB.
    explat_test_aa_weekly_lohp_2021_week_4517 days 8 hoursNo description
    ppwp_wp_session30 minutesNo description
    tk_ai14 daysGathers information for WordPress by themselves, first party analytics tool about how WP services are used. A collection of internal metrics for user activity, used to improve user experience.
    tk_qssessionGathers information for WordPress by themselves, first party analytics tool about how WP services are used. A collection of internal metrics for user activity, used to improve user experience.
    Advertisement
    Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
    CookieDurationDescription
    OAGEOsessionOpenX sets this cookie to avoid the repeated display of the same ad.
    OAID1 yearThis cookie is set when an AdsWizz website visitor have opted out the collection of information by AdsWizz service or opted to disable the targeted ads by AdsWizz.
    Analytics
    Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
    CookieDurationDescription
    _ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
    _gat_gtag_UA_31822138_71 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
    _gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
    tk_lr1 yearThe tk_lr is a referral cookie set by the JetPack plugin on sites using WooCommerce, which analyzes referrer behaviour for Jetpack.
    tk_or5 yearsThe tk_or is a referral cookie set by the JetPack plugin on sites using WooCommerce, which analyzes referrer behaviour for Jetpack.
    tk_r3d3 daysJetPack installs this cookie to collect internal metrics for user activity and in turn improve user experience.
    SAVE & ACCEPT
    Powered by CookieYes Logo