Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NC1211 had our third formal meeting on Sunday September 08, 2024, in Bologna, Italy, right before the European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming (EUPLF). The meeting was held in person from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The goals of our meeting were to 1) introduce new members, 2) update on progress by participating stations, 3) conduct business meetings with continuation plans. We started the meeting with brief individual introductions. A total of 16 participants attended (listed above), and the agenda and minutes were the following:

Agenda and Minutes

9:00 – 9:15        Introductions and Welcome

9:15 – 12:00      Station reports:

Joao Dorea: Summary of the activities of the Group in 2023 (Report)

Marcia Endres: University of Minnesota Station Report

Guilherme Rosa: UW-Madison Station Report

Janice Siegford / Madonna Benjamin: Michigan State University Station Report

Brett Ramirez: Iowa State University Statio Report

Joao Costa: University of Vermont Station Report

Tami Brown-Brandl: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Station Report

Juan Steibel: Overview of USDA FACT-CIN – webinars

Tomas Norton: Cost Action on “European Network on Livestock Phenomics” – (Tomas Norton - KU Leuven)

12:00 – 1:30      Lunch break

1:30 – 2:00        Discussion of milestones

Increase membership and network:

Encourage others to joining, open to everyone, LGU can work membership with their reps, non-LGU can contact NC1211 chairs and they will work with our adviser, Hector Santiago to enroll other members. Find synergies with other NC and NRSP8 groups.

Data Sharing:

Identify existing resources: UMN, OSF such as that of the CV-CIN, AgBioData: Data reuse. Consider barriers to data sharing: Privacy concerns, IP, Rules of use. Societal and ethical implications of sharing data.

Outreach:

• How to disseminate activities to industry?
• How to increase participation of industry members – organize activities in conferences attended by this group and other organizations, such as EAPLF, USPLF, ASAS, ASABE
• Maintain a database of potential employers as well as job opportunities for PLF graduates, including mentoring opportunities, internships, and permanent employment.

 Education:

• Facilitate and promote short courses on data sharing, FAIR data principles, computer vision tasks.
• Extend the reach of NC1211 internationally through delivering short courses.
• Engage Industry in determining educational needs for PLF students.
• Survey member stations for courses would that are available and that are needed in each institution.
• Focus on cross-training, such as: CV/image processing to ANS, Animal Behavior to ENG, CS and EE.
• Create a space to share educational resources.
• Put this as a component of integrated grants

2:00 – 2:30        Discussion of future grant opportunities

Two most relevant programs @ NIFA: 1) IDEAS, 2) DFASAS.

2:30 – 4:00        Business Meeting

Where to meet on USLPF years: pre-meeting for USPLF. Make it a day long and combine with IDEAS PD.

2025 Meeting will be in Lincoln, NE, prior to the USPLF Conference.

Official Actions:

Next Chair and Secretary:

Chair per by laws: Joao Dorea

Secretary by Vote: Joao Costa, unanimously elected

3:30                   Adjourn

Members of NC1211, representing 13 experimental stations, have submitted their annual reports for the 2024-2025 period, detailing their activities and achievements. In this report, we include only those outputs that were the result of collaborative activities between at least two stations.

The collective reports indicate that the group was successful in securing a total of 39 research grants, both intramural and extramural, amounting to $17,380,898. These funds have been instrumental in supporting collaborative research between the group members and the experimental stations, focusing on the two primary objectives outlined by the NC1211 group. It is noted that some stations did not disclose their funding amounts, suggesting that the actual total funds secured may be even higher. The successful acquisition of these grants represents a significant MILESTONE for the year, as it aligns perfectly with the group's dedication to advancing the field of precision livestock farming. This achievement not only underscores the group's commitment to these objectives but also highlights the progress made in securing substantial funding to develop this crucial area. The following details the specific activities, outcomes, and grants associated with each research station: 

1. Collaborative grants between stations
   1. Secured Funding

Michigan Alliance for Animal Agriculture. Benjamin M, Ferry E, Brown-Brandl T.  $147,454. The Cost of Comfort - Establishing the Thermal Neutral Zone of Modern Hyperprolific Sows.

USDA NIFA AFRI—IDEAS. Benjamin M, Morris D, McLaughlin N, Manzanilla E, Kyriazakis I, Pairis-Garcia M, Brown-Brandl T, Knauer M, Muns R, Moeser A, Ferry E, Beltranena E, Hovey R, Farmer C, Boyle L. $1,000,000. Tripartite: Automated Piglet and Sow Monitoring for Early Detection of At-Risk Piglets. 09/2024-08/2028.

USDA NIFA AFRI (PI: Dorea). 46th ADSA Discover Conference: Milking the Data - Value Driven Dairy Farming. $30,000. 2024-2024, Conference Grant.

USDA NIFA AFRI. Cockett N., Koltes J., et al. RCN: Farm Animal Genomics Collective. $3,125,000. 07/2024-06/2029.

1. Pending Funding

USDA NIFA AFRI—Social Implications of Food and Agricultural Technologies. Akinyemi BA, Siegford JM, Douglas H. Building trust in precision livestock farming using public engagement techniques. $650,000. Pending.

USDA-NIFA-AFRI -- Educational working group for 3^rd U.S. Precision Livestock Farming Conference. Brown-Brandl, Ramiez, Zhao, Berckmans $30,000 Pending

1. Ongoing Funding

USDA NIFA AFRI. Shi, Y., Brown-Brandl, T., Condotta, I. FACT-AI: Cyberinformatic Tools for Exploring and Validating Sow Posture and Piglet Activity. $499,825. 2021-2026.

Michigan Alliance for Animal Agriculture. Morris D, Siegford J, Ali A.  Automated targeted interventions to reduce eggs laid in the litter. $150,000. 6/22-12/24.

USDA NIFA AFRI – Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems. Siegford JM, Turner SP, Akaichi F, Benjamin M, Butters-Johnson AK, Pairis-Garcia MD, Rozeboom D, Steibel JP, Vigors B, Thompson DP, Zangaro C. $1,000,000. Understanding precision livestock farming adoption in the U.S. swine industry: examining needs, perceptions, and willingness to pay of users and consumers. 6/21-5/26.

USDA NIFA AFRI. Steibel JP, Brown-Brandl T, Rosa GJ, Siegford JM, Psota E, Dorea J, Benjamin M, Morris D, Norton T. $1,000,000. FACT-CIN: A Coordinated Innovation Network For Advancing Computer Vision In Precision Livestock Farming. 4/21-3/26.

USDA NIFA AFRI. Morris, D., Benjamin M., Brown-Brandl, T. Sharma, S.R. and Rohrer, G., "Automated Swine Phenotyping for Management and Research ", $590,000. (Aug 2022 - Aug 31, 2025.)

1. Collaborative Extension and Outreach

Siegford J, Akinyemi BA. 2024. How do swine producers and veterinarians think precision livestock farming could help farms? https://www.swineweb.com/ag-tech/how-do-swine-producers-and-veterinarians-think-precision-livestock-farming-could-help-farms/

Siegford J, Akinyemi BA. 2024. What drives swine producers to buy into precision livestock farming technology? https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/what-drives-swine-producers-to-buy-into-precision-livestock-farming-technology

Akinyemi BA, Siegford JM. 2024. What do Americans think of using precision livestock farming technology on U.S. swine farms? https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/what-do-americans-think-of-using-precision-livestock-farming-technology-on-u-s-swine-farms

Akinyemi BA, Siegford JM. 2023. Will precision livestock farming be adopted on swine farms? https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/will-precision-livestock-farming-be-adopted-on-swine-farms

Siegford JM. 2024. AIFARMS Conference Panel Discussion. AIFARMS Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, October 2, 2024

Siegford JM. 2024. Monitoring and managing poultry welfare and behaviors with technology. Georgia Precision Poultry Farming Conference -Virtual, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, May 2024

Endres, M. I., Australasian Dairy Science Symposium, "The future of work on dairy farms: People, Technology and Decision Making - A USA perspective," Christchurch, New Zealand. (November 27, 2024)

Endres, M. I., Global Programs and Strategic Alliance Seminar Series, "Research in dairy technology and welfare," China Center, Minneapolis. (November 2024).

Zhao, Y. 2024. Applications of precision livestock farming in poultry industry. São Paulo School of Advanced Science on Precision Livestock Farming (SPSAS-PLF), Oct 23, 2024, Jacoticabal, Brazil.

Zhao, Y. 2024. Applications of precision livestock farming in poultry industry. Joint ASRED/SAAESD Meeting, March 27, 2024, Lexington, KY, USA

Zhao, Y. 2024. Applications of precision livestock farming in poultry industry. International Conference on “Food-Energy-Water Bioeconomies for Net Zero Transition” March 19, 2024, Knoxville, TN, USA

Zhao, Y. 2024. Applications of precision livestock farming in poultry industry. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC) (Online).

Brown-Brandl T.M. and McQuillian, J. 2024. Future of Animal Agriculture Invited Presentation Technical University of Munich Dec 12, 2024

Brown-Brandl T.M Technology to Improve Animal Well-being for Cattle. The Korean Society of Animal Environmental Science & Technology 2024 International Symposium & Autumn Conference South Korea. South Korea Oct 31- Nov. 1, 2024.

Brown-Brandl T.M 2024. Precision Livestock Farming, The Future of Animal Production? Invited Talk Texas A&M Sept 23, 2024

Brown-Brandl T.M 2024. STAGE – Sustainable Ag Systems Grant and Plans – MidWest Dairy July 9 , 2024

Brown-Brandl T.M 2024. World Pork Expo Panel on Technology in the Swine Barn – June 6, 2024

Brown-Brandl T.M 2024.Technology in the Barn to Monitor Health - Manitoba Swine Seminar – Feb 6-9th, 2024

1. Publications in co-authorship between station members
   1. Peer-reviewed Publications

Akinyemi BE, Siegford JM. 2024. United States public’s attitudinal acceptance of precision livestock farming technologies in the swine industry. Precision Livestock Farming 2024: Papers Presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, Bologna, Italy, 9-12 September 2024. 11:409-417.

Akinyemi BE, Turner SP, Akaichi F, Benjamin ME, Johnson, AK, Pairis-Garcia MD, Rozeboom DW, Steibel JP, Thompson DP, Zangaro C, Jessiman L, Siegford JM. 2024. Understanding the intention of US swine farmers to adopt, their actual adoption, and the intention of US veterinarians to recommend Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies. Precision Livestock Farming 2024: Papers Presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, Bologna, Italy, 9-12 September 2024. 11:400-408.

Bery, S., Brown-Brandl, T. M., Rohrer, G. A., Sharma, S. R., & Leonard, S. M. 2024. Impacts of crate design, number of heat lamps and lying posture on the occurrence of shoulder lesions in sows. Biosystems Engineering, 247, 249-256.

de Oliveira Possagnolo, B., Condotta, I. C. F. S., Amorim, M. D. N., Harada, É. D. S., de Stefano Piedade, S. M., Cipriano, D. A. M., & da Silva-Miranda, K. O. 2024. Recyclable Rubber Flooring in Farrowing Crates and Its Influence on the Development and Welfare of Piglets in the Maternity Phase. Agriculture, 14(6), 807. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14060807

Funk, T. H., Rohrer, G. A., Brown-Brandl, T. M., & Keel, B. N. 2024. Online feeding behavior monitoring of individual group-housed grow-finish pigs using a low-frequency RFID electronic feeding system. Translational Animal Science, txae051.

Li, J., Hu, X., Lucic, A., Wu, Y., Condotta, I. C. F. S., Dilger, R. N., Ahuja, N., & Green-Miller, A. R. 2024. Promote computer vision applications in pig farming scenarios: high-quality dataset, fundamental models, and comparable performance1. Journal of Integrative Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2024.08.014

Madeira Pacheco, V., T.M. Brown-Brandl, G.A. Rohrer, R. Vieira de Sousa, and L Silva Martello. 2024. Impacts of farrowing pen design, season, and sow parity on litter performance and piglet mortality. Animals 14(2), 325.

Morris D, Long Y, Ali A, Siegford J. 2024. LED Arrays to Reduce Poultry Piling. Precision Livestock Farming 2024: Papers Presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, Bologna, Italy9-12 September 2024. 11:374-381.

Pacheco, V. M., Brown-Brandl, T. M., de Sousa, R. V., Rohrer, G. A., Sharma, S. R., & Martello, L. S. 2024. Deep learning-based sow posture classifier using colour and depth images. Smart Agricultural Technology, 9, 100563.

Perttu, R. K., Peiter, M., Bresolin, T., Dórea JRR, and Endres, M. I. 2024. Predictive models for disease detection in group-housed preweaning dairy calves using data collected from automated milk feeders. Journal of Dairy Science, 107: 331-341. doi: 10.3168/jds.2022-23037

Zhao, Y., B. Ramirez, J. Siegford, H. Gan, L. Wang-Li, D. Berckmans, R. Burns. 2024. Field Implementation of Precision Livestock Farming: Selected Proceedings from the 2nd U.S. Precision Livestock Farming Conference. Animals, 14(7), 1128.

Zhao, Y., D. Berckmans, H. Gan, B. Ramirez, J. Siegford, L. Wang-Li, R. Burns. 2024. 2nd U.S. Precision Livestock Farming. MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

 Conference papers, posters and presentations

Akin, H., Akinyemi, B.E., McQuillan, J., Brown-Brandl, T. 2024.  Students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward dairy production. In 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, ECPLF 2024 Bologna, Italy. 

Brown-Brandl, T.M., Sharma, S.R., Rohrer, G.A., Keel, B., Dennis, E. 2024. Development and Implementation of a Precision Livestock Farming System. In 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, ECPLF 2024 Bologna, Italy.

Madeira Pacheco, V., Brown-Brandl, T. Silva Martello, L., Vieria de Sousa, R. Sharma, S, and Rohrer, G. E. 2024. Evaluation of alternative farrowing pen layouts. In 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, ECPLF 2024 Bologna, Italy.

Rahman, M. T., Brown-Brandl, T. M., Rohrer, G. A., Sharma, S. R., & Shi, Y. 2024. Classification of Sow Postures Using Convolutional Neural Network and Depth Images. In 2024 ASABE Annual International Meeting (p. 1). American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Sharma, S.R., Brown-Brandl, T.M., Bhatti, K., Rohrer, G.A. 2024. Identification of aberrant drinking behaviour of grow-finishing pigs. In 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming, ECPLF 2024 Bologna, Italy.