Case Study on Recording Pigs’ Daily Activity Patterns with a UHF-RFID System

Anita Kapun, Felix Adrion and Eva Gallmann
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Anita Kapun: Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 9, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Felix Adrion: Agroscope, Competitiveness and Systems Evaluation, Tänikon 1, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
Eva Gallmann: Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstraße 9, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is the monitoring of daily activity patterns of fattening pigs at different locations in the housing environment using UHF-RFID. Four hundred fattening pigs were equipped with UHF-RFID ear tags and monitored during the fattening period for about four months. The RFID antennas were installed at the feeding troughs, playing devices and drinkers. A validation phase for each of these locations was carried out prior to the first data collection. The sensitivity (true positive rate) of the UHF-RFID system was about 80% at the feeding trough and the playing device and about 60% at the drinkers. The mean of the daily visiting time of all pigs at the trough was about 55 min. The mean visiting duration at the playing device was about 38 min and at the drinkers about 9 min. The visiting times of the pigs showed a high intra- and inter-variability. It was observed that the average visit duration at the feeding trough decreases over the course of a fattening period but increases at the playing device. A documentation of visiting times of animals is possible utilizing RFID systems, allowing a higher data density than video or direct observations.

Keywords: electronic ear tag; feeding; drinking; playing; fattening pigs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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