forward thinking

At Fancom we believe that as the demand for meat increases by more than 40% over the next 15 years, intensification is the only viable option. Satisfying the needs of over 9 billion people will grow the worldwide number of livestock and the scale of farms they are produced on. With a decreasing number of farmers each will have to take care of a larger number of animals. Consequently they will have less time available to care for each whilst society demands entitlement to individual attention. This creates challenges, as the scale and complexity forces us to look at new techniques to provide the...

Precision Livestock FarmingNew techniques for animal based measurements Livestock building off the Future The pig or poultry house of the future will be very different from what we are familiar with today. Introduction of technology and the ability to reduce risks will get us closer to building optimum environments in the best interest of the animals. Precision Livestock Farming is the use of advanced technologies to optimize the contribution of each animal, delivering the best results. By understanding environmental factors such as climate, feed and water and interpreting what the animals tell...

AUTOMATIC AND CONSISTENT MONITORING OF GROWTH One of the key profitability goals of modern livestock production isgrowth. Automatic weighing systems provide accurate information about the growth process of animals and gives the possibility to ‘anticipate’ during a fattening period rather than at the end in the slaughterhouse. Without immediate response to a deviation there is risk between making profit and loss. Perhaps the most traditional of techniques used are mechanical weighers for poultry. eYeScan uses camera technology to determine the pig weight. A camera, mounted above the trough makes...

PLF providing the comer stones of good animal husbandry It is now commonly accepted that to meet the demands on meat production, intensification is the only viable option. To achieve this in acceptable way certain criteria has to be met. The roadmap set out and how quickly we progress along it will very much be determined by how quickly technology allows us to do this in a practical way. As PLF develops our ability to gain further insight into the production process will allow us to progress along this roadmap. Current EU-funded projects aimed at achieving this are: EU PLF: Bright Farm by Precision...

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolosasks how the CAP and other policies can contribute to sustainable, long-term global food security... While it is very difficult to find an issue that all economists agree on, there is one key conclusion on which all agricultural economists seem to concur at the present time. Food demand is growing much more rapidly than supply, and we are therefore facing an overall rise in food prices in the medium to long term - as well as serious and structural food security threats, such as access to food in some regions, particularly...

Public Service Review explores the Belgian research project using sound monitors to detect and tackle respiratory illness in pigs, and the economic implications for farmers... When invisaging a pigsty, the last thing one would expect to see would be microphones hanging in the vicinity. However, academics at KU Leuven in Belgium are conducting research that seeks to monitor the coughing patterns of pigs to alert the farmer to any abnormalities. Researchers argue that the ability to detect any respiratory problems quickly and efficiently will result in a decreased need for antibiotics and therefore...

forward thinking Intelligent farming Fancoms climate, feed and biometric systems do more than just create the optimum environment. By focusing on the animals, we enable them to teach the farmer. With this knowledge welfare improves and so does his profit. That’s iFarming.