A computer vision system was developed to automatically measure the live weight of pigs without human intervention. The system was trialled on both research and commercial farms to demonstrate the ability of the system to cope with different conditions and non-uniform lighting conditions. Early results demonstrate that the system can achieve sufficient practical accuracy. The results of the initial trials demonstrated that weight of the pigs can be predicted with an average error of 1.18 kg. Precision, reliability and repeatability are likely to be increased in future through improved weight prediction models, increased image resolution and algorithm enhancement.

Several studies have quantified the energy consumption associated with crop production in various countries. However, these studies have not compared the energy consumption from a broad range of farming practices currently in practice, such as zero tillage, conventional tillage and irrigated farming systems. This study examines direct on-farm energy use for high value grain crops grown under different farming practices in Australia. Grain farming processes are identified and “typical” farming operation data are collected from several sources, including published and unpublished literature, as well as expert interviews. The direct on-farm energy uses are assessed for 27 scenarios, including three high value grain crops―wheat, barley and sorghum―for three regions (Northern, Southern and Western Australia) under three farming conditions with both dryland (both for conventional and zero-tillage) and irrigated conditions. It is found that energy requirement for farming operations is directly related to the intensity and frequency of farming operations, which in turn is related to tillage practices, soil types, irrigation systems, local climate, and crop types. Among the three studied regions, Western Australia requires less direct on-farm energy for each crop, mainly due to the easily workable sandy soils and adoption of zero tillage systems. In irrigated crops, irrigation energy remains a major contributor to the total on-farm energy demand, accounting for up to 85% of total energy use.

To identify the most practical and representative sampling locations for air quality and environmental variables inside intensive piggery buildings, the variation in the spatial, diurnal and season...

Past publications describe the various impact of feeding behavior of broilers on productivity and physiology. However, very few publications have considered the impact of biomechanics associated with the feeding process in birds. The present study aims at comparing the kinematic variables of young broiler chicks (3–4 days old; 19 specimens) while feeding them with three different feed types, such as fine mash (F1), coarse mash (F2), and crumbled feed (F3). The feeding behavior of the birds was recorded using a high-speed camera. Frames sequences of each mandibulation were selected manually and classified according to the temporal order that occurred (first, second, third, or fourth, and further). The head displacement and the maximum beak gape were automatically calculated by image analysis. The results did not indicate strong correlations between birds’ weight, beak size (length and width), and the kinematic variables of feeding. The differences between the tested feed were found mostly in the first and second mandibulations, probably explained by the higher incidence of “catch-and-throw” movements in F3 (33%) and F1 (26%) than F2 (20%). The “catch-and-throw” movements in F1 (the smallest feed particle) mostly occurred in the first mandibulation, as in F3 (the largest feed particle) also occurred in the latest mandibulations. It might be suggested that the adoption of “catch-and-throw” in the latest mandibulations increases with larger particles. The kinematic variables in the latest mandibulations (from the third one on) seem to be similar for all feed types, which represent the swallowing phase. It might be inferred that the temporal sequence of the mandibulations should be essential to describe the kinematics of a feeding scene of broiler chickens, and the first and second mandibulations are potentially the key factors for the differences accounted by the diverse feed particle sizes.

Air quality is known to affect the production efficacy, health and welfare of different livestock species, as well as the health of farm workers. It is therefore important to improve air quality in facilities housing livestock to reduce the incidence and severity of respiratory diseases, improve animal welfare, production efficiency and reduce the potential occupational health and safety risks arising from exposure of farm workers to airborne pollutants in livestock facilities. This paper outlines the development of test equipment that enabled the standardised testing of different oil application rates (to be applied in bedded livestock buildings) on the resulting levels of dust suppression. Specifically the development of the equipment enabled optimum stirring and rotational speeds to be determined to give consistent levels of dust generation within the test chamber. This allowed for different oil inclusion rates to be determined in the oil/water mixture to achieve optimal dust reduction rates. Results showed that increased amounts of oil water mixture resulted in a decrease of airborne dust particles from the bedding material. However, an economically optimum rate was also identified, when the diminishing return (in terms of dust reduction rate) on the amount of oil applied was also considered. The paper also reviewed some previous studies conducted in Australia aimed at fine-tuning and applying oil spraying in livestock buildings to suppress dust.