Automatic estimation of number of piglets in a pen during farrowing, using image analysis

The objective was to develop a camera based monitoring system of the farrowing process in sows. The system, when used in practical farm conditions, should support the farm staff in reducing the problems of mortality in piglets due to perinatal asphyxia and crushing. The experiments took place in the research farm of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, using a herd of 120 Large White sows. Data were collected from sows housed in farrowing pens with possibility of temporary crating. The farrowing process of 8 sows was video recorded and labelled for a period of 6 h before the start of farrowing until the end of farrowing. Timestamps of births of all piglets in the litter were labelled. Images obtained during the experiment were segmented with focus on piglet detection. Three parameters were extracted from segmented images: number of objects detected, area and perimeter of all objects. On the basis of the parameters, a Transfer Function (TF) model was estimated with output variable defined as number of piglets in the pen. The developed model explained 82% (R2) variability in the training set composed of 5 sows and 81% (R2) in the validation set composed of 3 sows. Number of piglets in the pen was estimated with a standard error of 1.73 piglets in the training set and 1.72 in the validation set. The potential application of the developed technique is monitoring of start of farrowing, perinatal asphyxia and crushing in piglets.

[1]  Stefano Viazzi,et al.  Image feature extraction for classification of aggressive interactions among pigs , 2014 .

[2]  M. Herskin,et al.  Nest building and farrowing in sows: relation to the reaction pattern during stress, farrowing environment and experience , 2002 .

[3]  M. Taverne,et al.  Factors affecting duration of the expulsive stage of parturition and piglet birth intervals in sows with uncomplicated, spontaneous farrowings. , 2005, Theriogenology.

[4]  G. Randall.  The relationship of arterial blood pH and pCO2 to the viability of the newborn piglet. , 1971, Canadian journal of comparative medicine : Revue canadienne de medecine comparee.

[5]  G. Randall.  Perinatal adaptation in animals , 1992 .

[6]  E. Knol,et al.  Stillbirth in the pig in relation to genetic merit for farrowing survival. , 2003, Journal of animal science.

[7]  Johan J. Hanekom,et al.  Automatic detection of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) infrasonic vocalisations from recordings , 2010 .

[8]  M. N. Corrêa,et al.  Risk factors for stillbirths in two swine farms in the south of Brazil. , 2002, Preventive veterinary medicine.

[9]  Fernand Meyer,et al.  Topographic distance and watershed lines , 1994, Signal Process..

[10]  Eberhard Hartung,et al.  Towards qualitative and quantitative prediction and detection of parturition onset in sows using light barriers , 2015, Comput. Electron. Agric..

[11]  V Goedseels,et al.  Image analysis to measure activity index of animals. , 2010, Equine veterinary journal. Supplement.

[12]  Knut Egil Bøe,et al.  Crushing of piglets by the mother sow (Sus scrofa) - purely accidental or a poor mother? , 2005 .

[13]  Daniel Berckmans,et al.  Automatic Identification of Marked Pigs in a Pen Using Image Pattern Recognition , 2013, MDA.

[14]  Daniel Berckmans,et al.  Automatic weight estimation of individual pigs using image analysis , 2014 .

[15]  Lene Juul Pedersen,et al.  Lying down and rolling behaviour in sows in relation to piglet crushing , 2005 .

[16]  David Fraser,et al.  Sow body movements that crush piglets: a comparison between two types of farrowing accommodation , 1996 .

[17]  D. Berckmans,et al.  Application of a fully automatic analysis tool to assess the activity of broiler chickens with different gait scores , 2010 .

[18]  E. Swierstra,et al.  CAUSES OF PIGLET DEATH FROM BIRTH TO WEANING , 1987 .

[19]  B. K. Thompson,et al.  Risky behaviour by piglets: a trade off between feeding and risk of mortality by maternal crushing? , 1996, Animal Behaviour.

[20]  U. Aparna,et al.  Hidden phase-type Markov model for the prediction of onset of farrowing for loose-housed sows , 2014 .

[21]  G. Cronin,et al.  A note on the relationship between the behavioural response of lactating sows to humans and the survival of their piglets , 1999 .

[22]  P. Herpin,et al.  Effects of the level of asphyxia during delivery on viability at birth and early postnatal vitality of newborn pigs. , 1996, Journal of animal science.

[23]  Jay D. Harmon,et al.  Comparison of image feature extraction for classification of swine thermal comfort behavior , 1998 .

[24]  Peter L. Nuthall,et al.  An analysis of the feasibility of using image processing to estimate the live weight of sheep , 2004 .

[25]  Jean-Marie Aerts,et al.  Is precision livestock farming an engineer's daydream or nightmare, an animal's friend or foe, and a farmer's panacea or pitfall? , 2008 .

[26]  Michael Vinther,et al.  Validation of a digital video tracking system for recording pig locomotor behaviour , 2005, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[27]  B. K. Thompson,et al.  Farrowing Behaviour and Stillbirth in Two Environments: An Evaluation of the Restraint-Stillbirth Hypothesis , 1997 .

[28]  Claudia Bahr,et al.  Automatic monitoring of pig locomotion using image analysis , 2014 .

[29]  S. Jarvis,et al.  Consistency of piglet crushing by sows , 2005 .

[30]  Rafael C. González,et al.  Digital image processing using MATLAB , 2006 .

[31]  N. Keil,et al.  Piglet mortality on farms using farrowing systems with or without crates , 2007, Animal Welfare.

[32]  Daniel Berckmans,et al.  The automatic monitoring of pigs water use by cameras , 2013 .

[33]  Maciej Oczak,et al.  Classification of nest-building behaviour in non-crated farrowing sows on the basis of accelerometer data , 2015 .

[34]  Beat Wechsler,et al.  Individual differences in the behaviour of sows at the nest-site and the crushing of piglets , 1997 .

[35]  I. Andersen,et al.  Management routines at the time of farrowing—effects on teat success and postnatal piglet mortality from loose housed sows , 2011 .

[36]  P. Cockcroft,et al.  Handbook of Pig Medicine , 2007 .

[37]  Peter C. Young,et al.  Recursive Estimation and Time-Series Analysis: An Introduction , 1984 .

[38]  Claudia Bahr,et al.  Original paper: Real-time automatic lameness detection based on back posture extraction in dairy cattle: Shape analysis of cow with image processing techniques , 2010 .