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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Nutrition, Growth and Physiology » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341164
Title: Comparing three different passive RFID systems for behaviour monitoring in grow-finish pigs

Author
item Brown-Brandl, Tami
item MASELYNE, J - Flanders Institute Of Biotechnology (VIB)
item ADRION, F - Hohenheim University
item KAPUN, A - Hohenheim University
item HESSEL, E - University Of Gottingen
item SAEYS, W - Leuven University
item VAN NUFFEL, A - Flanders Institute Of Biotechnology (VIB)
item GALLMANN, E - University Of Hohenheim

Submitted to: European Conference on Precision Agriculture Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/23/2017
Publication Date: 7/1/2017
Citation: Brown-Brandl, T.M., Maselyne, J., Adrion, F., Kapun, A., Hessel, E.F., Saeys, W., Van Nuffel, A., Gallmann, E. 2017. Comparing three different passive RFID systems for behaviour monitoring in grow-finish pigs. Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, September 12-14, 2017, Nantes, France. p. 622-631.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Animal facilities are increasing in size making it difficult for animal caretakers to ensure the health and well-being of all animals under their care. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems have been successfully used in animal facilities and research has identified potential applications in behaviour monitoring for automated problem detection. Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF), and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) are the three frequency ranges most commonly used. The objective of this paper is to compare and evaluate the application of these three different RFID systems within grow-finish swine facilities in terms of hardware characteristics, system design, and data processing and usage. Differences in tag construction, availability and cost are evident, but also basic differences in reader and antenna function, such as physics of data exchange, speed of detection, and anti-collision procedures exist. The systems can have significant differences in read ranges and also showed varying influence of materials, especially water and metal, on the performance of the systems. However, the data streams as well as methods of data processing and the creation of events (e.g. visits to a feeder) are similar for all systems. The characteristics mentioned do not necessarily identify an ideal RFID technology, but reveal positive and negative aspects of each system. The three different RFID systems have been successfully applied in pig facilities. Current research is focused on the utilization of the RFID data in prediction and decision models for illness, animal welfare and management actions.