A Systematic Review of Precision Livestock Farming in the Poultry Sector: Is Technology Focussed on Improving Bird Welfare?

Rowe Rowe,Dawkins Dawkins,Gebhardt-Henrich Gebhardt-Henrich

doi:10.3390/ani9090614

Abstract

Simple SummaryPrecision livestock farming (PLF) is the use of technology to help farmers monitor and manage their animals and their farm. This technology can help to improve animal welfare by enabling farmers to act as soon as any problem arises. However, the technology can also be used to increase production efficiency on the farm, which could be prioritised over the animals’ welfare. The aim of this study was to give an overview of PLF technology development in poultry farming, and to investigate whether improving welfare has been the main goal of PLF development. The results suggest that PLF development in poultry farming so far has focussed on improving animal health and welfare, more so than increasing production. However, despite the interest in PLF research for poultry farming across the world (especially in the USA, China and Belgium), most of the technology is still being developed (prototypes); only a few are available for farmers to buy and use. This means that future work should focus on making these technologies commercially available to farmers, so that systems developed to improve welfare can be used to improve the welfare of farmed birds in the real world.Precision livestock farming (PLF) systems have the potential to improve animal welfare through providing a continuous picture of welfare states in real time and enabling fast interventions that benefit the current flock. However, it remains unclear whether the goal of PLF development has been to improve welfare or increase production efficiency. The aims of this systematic literature review are to provide an overview of the current state of PLF in poultry farming and investigate whether the focus of PLF research has been to improve bird welfare. The study characteristics extracted from 264 peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings suggest that poultry PLF has received increasing attention on a global scale, but is yet to become a widespread commercial reality. PLF development has most commonly focussed on broiler farming, followed by laying hens, and mainly involves the use of sensors (environmental and wearable) and cameras. More publications had animal health and welfare than production as either one of or the only goal, suggesting that PLF development so far has focussed on improving animal health and welfare. Future work should prioritise improving the rate of commercialisation of PLF systems, so that their potential to improve bird welfare might be realised.

Highlights

The term ’Precision Livestock Farming’ (PLF) was coined at the start of the 21st century, with the first conference on Precision livestock farming (PLF) held in 2003 [1]
The first papers on technology which can be classed as PLF in poultry farming, according to the authors’
The second aim was to investigate whether the focus of PLF research has been to improve bird welfare, because whilst the potential for PLF to increase welfare through improved monitoring has been discussed, there remains a risk that PLF will be utilised to prioritise production efficiency, which could come at the expense bird welfare

Summary

Introduction

The term ’Precision Livestock Farming’ (PLF) was coined at the start of the 21st century, with the first conference on PLF held in 2003 [1]. Based on the main shared aspects of the various definitions, the authors generated the following definition: PLF is the use of technology to automatically monitor livestock, their products and the farming environment in real time, in order to aid farm management, through supplying the farmer with relevant information on which to base management decisions, or by activating automated control systems. Through more precise control over production processes, PLF can help farmers to improve their productivity and profitability. Banhazi and Black [2] argue that a major benefit of adopting a PLF system is to ensure that “every process within a livestock enterprise, which can have a large positive or large negative effect on productivity and profitability, is always controlled and optimised within narrow limits.”

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