The Challenges of Livestock Production

The livestock production sector faces many challenges to provide our growing population with safe food. By 2050, we must be able to feed 9.5 billion people in a sustainable way to ensure opportunities for future generations.

With rising income levels in many countries around the world, demand for meat is expected to increase by 73%, with most customers preferring poultry meat. However, our natural resources are limited and production needs to be increased as there is only 5% more arable land available. It is therefore essential for the poultry meat sector to become more efficient.

Additional challenges include increased production costs, disease outbreaks, animal welfare concerns, environmental impact, and market expansion. The industry must also attract younger consumers and embrace technological advancements.

Resistance to Change and Data Underutilization

Despite these challenges, the poultry sector has been slow to adopt change. It remains labor-intensive, with little automation on farms.

At the same time, poultry farms generate vast amounts of data, but much of it is underutilized. The main reason for this is that most of our data is still recorded manually! It is estimated that in most industries, only 10% of the data generated is in a digital format and 90% is not, meaning that the data is not easily accessible to analyze and gain insights from.

The Need for Digitalization

The digitalization of the poultry sector is absolutely necessary for its sustainable growth. Fortunately, the transition to Poultry 4.0 presents many opportunities.

Connected devices now allow producers to measure and monitor critical farm parameters, some related to the environment in which we raise the birds and others directly linked to the performance of our flocks. Environmental conditions, feed consumption, water usage, and bird weight can all be tracked with digital sensors, providing continuous access to data. No more missing data; no more numbers written on a small piece of paper and lost; no more numbers that don’t really make sense…

Among these sensors, the accurate monitoring of feed consumption with bin scales or level sensors, the patterns of water consumption and bird weights with automated scales are essential to manage the growth and uniformity of our flocks. Indeed, the first benefit of digitalization is a 24/7 access to data for producers and farm managers displayed in easy-to-read formats.

Unlocking the Power of Artificial Intelligence

The true value of digitalization comes when the analytical capabilities of artificial intelligence are applied to all the data we collect on our farms and in our facilities. Using machine learning models, we can use the vast amounts of data to define algorithms that help us better manage our flocks. We can train models that help us to recognize unusual situations at a very early stage so that we can react, adapt and prevent major problems. This is where digitalization contributes to better bird health and welfare.

We can also train models to make predictions about the birds’ weight up to 14 days in advance. When producers need to reach a target weight to receive maximum compensation for their labor, they are guided by artificial intelligence-based analysis. They can adjust their feeding and management practices to either boost or limit growth, ensuring their flocks will meet the target objectives.

Optimizing the Supply Chain

Weight predictions can also be used to better align broiler farms with processing plants. Processing plants prefer to work with birds of a specific weight with little variation from bird to bird – this makes their work easier, faster and more efficient.

Using Intelia’s smart algorithm, a Canadian processing plant that sourced birds from 225 connected houses was able to increase the percentage of birds that were in the ideal range for processing by 120% and reduce the number of birds that were more than 100 grams off target live weight by more than three times.

The benefits of this precise approach to selecting chicken houses for processing are that more birds processed were at the target weight and the processing plant experienced less downtime to adjust equipment. By maximizing feed consumption and efficiency, the environmental impact of production was also minimized. By sourcing broilers from connected farms, this Canadian processing plant was able to achieve a payback on its digital investment in just 9 months.

Empowering Farm Operators with Knowledge

Digitalization is also a tool to empower farm operators with knowledge. A specially trained poultry chat bot, developed by Intelia, provides accurate and relevant information on a wide range of topics related to poultry management, nutrition and health.

In a difficult situation, this chatbot helps veterinarians, farm managers and nutritionists determine the best course of action within seconds.

A Structured Approach to Digital Transformation

The path to digitalization is complex, with many options to consider and the process can be overwhelming for many poultry producers. However, a planned and concerted approach will make this digital transformation a seamless journey.

Intelia has developed a proprietary process to support poultry operations with a methodical analysis and assessment of needs and opportunities before implementing a series of defined projects. The value of the data is then maximized through the development of various predictive algorithms and the continuous refinement of the models. This process optimizes the benefits that poultry companies will derive from their digital transformation.

The Future of Poultry Digitalization

The digitalization of the poultry sector will maximize the use of our data. We will gain efficiencies, improve animal health and welfare and reduce the consumption of our limited natural resources.

By embracing technology, the poultry sector can achieve sustainable growth while meeting the challenges of feeding a growing global population.