Document type: news item from the Wageningen University website
Preview: Wageningen Livestock Research, part of Wageningen University & Research, is developing a system that automatically analyzes and interprets broiler behavior. The system should provide poultry farmers with simple and affordable support in preventing leg problems with broilers and enhancing animal welfare.
Broiler chickens are prone to leg problems. This affects animal welfare and production. Current methods for assessing broiler chicken welfare on-farm rely on human observation. This is subjective, labor intensive and can lead to delayed intervention.
Dr. Ingrid de Jong: "We are researching whether we can continuously monitor and interpret the behavior of broiler chickens with 3D infrared cameras. And of course, if we'll be able to automatically alert the farmer where necessary. Filming animals is easy. Developing a system that analyzes those images; that's the challenge. Especially if you want to monitor animal behavior in large groups.
