WO2010091686A1

WO2010091686A1 - An apparatus and method for surveillance of individual animals' liquid intake behaviour

Info

Publication number: WO2010091686A1
Application number: PCT/DK2009/050332
Authority: WO
Inventors: Erik L. Decker; Anders FØNSS; Lise Dybkjaer
Original assignee: Aarhus Universitet Det Jordbrugsvidenskabelige Fakultet
Priority date: 2008-12-15
Filing date: 2009-12-11
Publication date: 2010-08-19

Abstract

The present invention concerns an apparatus for monitoring liquid intake by individual animals, such as pigs on a pig farm, in order to determine the individual animal's feeding and/or drinking behaviour. It also concerns automatic vaccination and/or automatic addition of medication and/or additives.

Description

An apparatus and method for surveillance of individual animals' liquid intake behaviour

Field of invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for surveillance of liquid intake, such as water intake, of individual animals, such as pigs on a pig farm.

Background of invention

Today, animals for slaughtering are produced in great numbers every year, all over the world. Many of these animals pick up diseases which are traditionally treated by giving all animals, both the healthy and the sick, antibiotics in the liquid. However, by giving healthy or sick animals antibiotics, there is a risk that bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics. In addition, the sick animals could be subject to wrong treatment. Resistant bacteria pose an increasing and serious threat to human health all over the world. Further, by mass medication there is a risk that the sick animals are either over or under medicated because the medication typically is added to liquid, such as drinking water, and therefore the medication dose is dependent on the amount of liquid intake by each sick animal. By over or under medication, sick animals risk either getting poisoned or having no/insignificant affect against the disease.

When animals become sick, their behaviour, including their drinking and eating behaviour, is changed in order to protect the animal in its healing process. For sick animals, the changes in drinking behaviour are, to a large extent, similar for different types of sicknesses and therefore the drinking behaviour of animals is a characteristic parameter.

A system for dispensing drugs for individual animals is disclosed in US 4,463,706, where an animal eats or drinks from a fountain with a paddle valve, and a drug is dispensed using an identification means comprising memory elements, a receiving and transmitting system, and the medication records for each animal are stored in a circuitry attached to the animal. However, in US 4,463,706, only the amount of liquid added to the fountain is recorded; there is no disclosure for recording of the precise amount of liquid taken in by the individual animal. Further, there is no disclosure of a central system for handling the records of several animals, since each animal carries its own record.

A method to determine the quantity of liquid drunk by animals is disclosed in US 2005/0241589, where animals take in liquid from a drinking dish connected to a liquid source and a discharge valve.

However, a drinking dish is not suited for all types of animals, and the amount of liquid taken in by the animal is only precisely measured, provided that the animal does not spill any of the liquid outside the drinking dish.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for monitoring the precise liquid intake of an individual animal, allowing identification of animals with behaviour irregularities, such as sick animals.

The object is achieved by an apparatus for surveillance of the liquid intake, such as water intake, by at least one animal in a livestock, e.g. a domestic herd, said apparatus, for instance for use on large scale animal farms, comprising a liquid dispensing means, a measuring means, a plurality of sensor means for measuring the liquid intake, and an electronic monitoring system, wherein the measuring means is adapted for measuring waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal, and the electronic monitoring system is arranged to record information from the measuring means and the plurality of sensor means.

In another aspect of the invention, the invention involves an apparatus for surveillance of the liquid intake, such as water intake, by at least one animal in a livestock, e.g. a domestic herd, said apparatus, for instance for use on large scale animal farms, comprising a liquid dispensing means, a collection means, a plurality of sensor means for measuring the liquid intake, and an electronic monitoring system, wherein the collection means is arranged to collect waste liquid not consumed by at least one animal, and the electronic monitoring system is arranged to record information from the plurality of sensor means.

The invention can be used to identify sick animals automatically in a very large production system, or in an animal park, where animals are kept in groups and where a large animal density is present, by studying the drinking behaviour of the animals. The invention can also be used for surveillance of animals housed individually. The drinking behaviour comprises several elements which can be used to describe an individual animal in a time period. Drinking behaviour is not only the total amount of water intake but also the time spend at the drinking place. Drinking behaviour also comprises the frequency of visits to the feeding unit, the duration of each visit, and the amount of liquid intake at each visit. From these parameters, the following can be found: The daily intake of liquid, daily drinking time, and the drinking speed. If one or more of these parameters are monitored over time, mathematical models can be used to characterize these. The drinking behaviour is dependent on e.g. age, sex, size and weight of the animal, light conditions, weather conditions, high or low temperatures and the time of day the drinking is taking place. Thus, sicknesses are discovered early in the sickness phase, whereby a shorter period of medication is needed because the medication is started earlier, which is important because animals, such as pigs, tend to have a normal liquid intake in the beginning of a period of sickness and a changed liquid intake, such as a lower liquid intake when the sickness progresses. The liquid intake of the animal is precisely measured, this is important because animals, such like pigs, manipulate the dispensing means, such as a suckling unit (e.g. nipple) with their noses, by which some liquid is spilled and not taken in by the animal. Further, based on the monitoring, the provision of liquid can be optimized which leads to proper modification of drinking and feeding facilities and stall designs, ease of the work of the farmer by automation, identification of sick animals, specialised products, for instance 100% medication free pork meat, and precise track and trace of individual animals, which is important for both the consumer and the farmer. Advanced models, such as software algorithms and mathematical models, is used in the electronic monitoring system for processing the recorded data, whereby, for instance, sick animals are identified. Since the drinking behaviour of sick animals normally is different from that of healthy animals, one can tell, by monitoring the drinking behaviour of an animal, whether the animal is sick or not, and take the actions to treat the sick animal on an individual basis. In a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method for surveillance of liquid intake by at least one animal in a livestock, said method comprising the steps of dispensing an amount of liquid to an individual animal, collecting waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal, measuring the amount of waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal, calculating the amount of liquid consumed by the individual animal by subtracting the amount of waste liquid from the dispensed amount of liquid, and recording at least said calculated amount of liquid consumed by the individual animal.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus, the measuring means comprises a collection means arranged to collect waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal.

In another preferred embodiment of the apparatus, the measuring means comprises at least one rotation means which is rotated by waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal. The roation means can for instance be a water wheel so that the waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal imparts motion to the water wheel in a manner which is similar to the mechanism of a watermill.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus, animal identification means, such as RFID identification, for identification of individual animal tags, such as RFID tags is provided, whereby not only one animal, but many animals can be monitored.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus, the liquid dispensing means is arranged inside a housing above the measuring means or the collection means, by which only one animal at a time is allowed to drink from the dispensing means. In this embodiment, the dispensing means comprises a flow meter, a flow control valve and a water tank holding drinking water to be dispensed, placed above a suckling unit, which is operated by the nose, mouth, or head of the animals, thus allowing dispensing on demand. External pressure may be applied to reach a desired water pressure. Beneath the suckling unit, a collection means collects any water not consumed by the animal, such as spilled water. Instead of a suckling unit, other dispensing means, such a trough, a drinking bowl, or a drinking dish can be used provided that all the water not consumed by the animal is collected by the collection means. In another embodiment, the collection means is placed under a grating, which the animal, such as a pig, stands on. The animal has its front feet placed on the grating. Alternatively, the collection means is a waste tray placed under the chin or throat of the drinking animal. Supply of water to the water tank and drain from the collection means is regulated electronically by magnet valves. The water volume in the collection means and in the water tank is continuously monitored by water level sensors. In a preferred embodiment the liquid intake is recorded continuously by the electronic monitoring system. The suckling unit is activated by an individual animal for a short time, in which the animal is identified by for instance wireless reading of an identification tag, such as an ear tag, an implant, a collar, a sticking plaster or through image recognition and weighing. When an individual animal takes in liquid, it is substantially standing still in a fixed position, whereby several procedures are allowed, such as brushing or wireless measuring the animal's weight, size and health conditions, such as temperature and functioning of the heart, blood, lungs, and muscles.

In a preferred embodiment, a liquid intake behaviour of at least one animal, comprising liquid intake speed, individual animal number, time and date, number of visits to the feeding dispenser means, time between drinking sessions, duration of the drinking, amount of dispensed liquid, amount of wasted liquid, and amount of liquid intake, is calculated by the electronic monitoring system and/or is available by the electronic monitoring system for further processing.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method, whereby a plurality of the liquid intake speed, the individual animal number, the time and date, number of drinking visits, the time between drinking sessions, the duration of the drinking, the amount of dispensed liquid, the amount of wasted liquid, and the precise amount of liquid intake, is recorded and/or is available for further processing.

In a preferred embodiment of the apparatus, a mixing chamber for adding vaccination or medication, such as antibiotics, e.g. penicillin, and/or additives (e.g. vitamins, minerals, drugs, nutrients) to the liquid, whereby precisely controlled individual intake of medication and/or additives is allowed, is arranged before the dispensing means.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method, whereby at least one animal in a livestock are vaccinated and/or given medication, such as antibiotics, e.g. penicillin, and/or additives, individually mixed in their respective liquid, before the liquid is dispensed.

By using individually medication, the medication is carefully controlled, by which only sick animals are given the particular medication needed in the right dose. The medication use and medication expenses are kept at a minimum because the healthy animals are not medicated. Further, the risk that bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics and are transferred to humans is lowered, because, by monitoring the liquid intake of individual animals, it is possible to continuously give sick animals small doses of medication, which is more effective against bacteria, compared to a second method, where a larger dose of medication is given to the sick animal at a lower frequency. The second method gives much higher fluctuation in the concentration of medication and there is a risk that only the weak bacteria are killed off and the most resistant bacteria live on, whereby a natural selection of the most resistant bacteria is performed every time the animal is medicated.

In an embodiment of the apparatus, the electronic monitoring system continuously records information regarding the liquid intake of the individual animals. The information is evaluated by the electronic monitoring system and indicates if the drinking behaviour of an animal is irregular, for instance compared to the previous behaviour of the animal itself or to other animals of same sex and age. The farmer can then inspect and evaluate the animal showing irregular drinking behaviour and decide whether the animal is to receive vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, such as drugs, nutrients and vitamins, the type, and amount of vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, and the frequency by which the animals receive vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. In a further embodiment, a vaccination and/or medication and/or additives dispenser is connected to the water dispenser, for instance via a mixing chamber, whereby vaccination and/or medication and/or additives can be added automatically to individual animals' drinking liquid. Animals, with normal drinking behaviour, are not given vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. The electronic monitoring system creates a profile from historical data of the animal. The vaccination and/or medication and/or additives dispenser is placed near the water outlet, such as a suckling unit to hinder contamination of the water tank. The amount of vaccination and/or medication and/or additives added is controlled by the electronic monitoring system. Individual vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, frequency, and dose are decided by the user operating the electronic monitoring system, by specifying the identification number of the individual animal to receive vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. The electronic monitoring system measures how much vaccination and/or medication and/or additives the animal has taken in and stops automatically for vaccination and/or medication and/or additives when the animal has reached the desired dose in a given time period. From this point on, the animal has access to water without vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, until the next time for vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. Animals, with normal drinking behaviour, in the same stall have access to the same suckling unit, however, by detection of their identity, it is secured that they are not given vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. To secure that no vaccination and/or medication and/or additives leftovers are given to the animals with normal drinking behaviour, when they drink from the same suckling unit as the selected animals, a flushing mechanism for cleaning the suckling unit is used. A food colour may be added to the vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, by which the animals receiving vaccination and/or medication and/or additives can be visually identified by coloured tongue, anus, urethra, urine or faeces. By this visual identification, it is possible to verify that only selected animals receive vaccination and/or medication and/or additives. In a another preferred embodiment of the apparatus, water dispensing means and vaccination and/or medication and/or additives dispensing means are separated, so that for instance the vaccination and/or medication and/or additives dispenser is installed only in specific stalls. Thus, in this embodiment, the vaccination and/or medication and/or additives dispensers are not needed for stalls with healthy animals.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention is disclosed in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagram of the apparatus, according to a first embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the apparatus, according to second embodiment of the invention, wherein a liquid dispensing means is arranged inside a housing. Fig. 3 is a front view of the housing in Fig. 2.

Detailed description of drawings

A skilled person would appreciate that for clarity purposes; in different figures, same numerals are used to indicate the same component in the apparatus.

With reference to Fig. 1 , water, added through a magnet valve 21 to a tank 1 , is dispensed through a suckling unit 2 to an animal, standing on the floor 8, such as a slatted floor, while an RFID antenna 14 reads off the animals RFID tag. Any waste, spilling or leaking of water is collected in a collection means 4 having a drain 6, a drain for overflow 5, a magnet valve 13, and an ultrasonic sensor 7 for recording the water amount in the collection means. Between the water tank and the suckling unit, a mixing chamber 9 for adding vaccination and/or medication and/or additives, such as drugs, nutrients and vitamins is installed. Overflow of the tank is detected by an electrically operated magnet valve 10. Another ultrasonic sensor 1 1 is used for measuring the water amount in the water tank. The dispensing unit, the ultrasonic sensors, the electrically operated magnet valves, the mixing chamber and the RFID antenna send information to, and is controlled by, an electronic monitoring system 12, which has an interface 15 for management by the farmer.

In a first embodiment of the apparatus, a grating 3 (Refer Fig. 1 ) is arranged between the suckling unit 2 and the collecting means 4.

Referring now to Fig. 2, in a second embodiment of the apparatus, the suckling unit 2, which can be raised or lowered as shown by arrows A and B, is arranged inside a housing 16 above the collection means 4. The housing has a lower section 17, which may contain hay which allows the waste to run through, and an opening 18 for the animals to reach the suckling unit.

Referring now to Fig. 3, in an embodiment of the apparatus, an RFID antenna 14 is located on the right side of the housing 16 for detecting RFID tags attached to the right ear of the animals. In a further embodiment of the apparatus, the opening 18 has a form which has a wide upper part and a narrow lower part, such that, at any time, only one small animal 19 may reach the suckling unit through the narrow lower part, and still a larger animal 20 may reach the suckling unit through the wider upper part.

In the following, an example is given to explain the working of the apparatus comprising drinking water:

1 . Standby - the water tank is filled, the collection means is emptied.

2. Detection of the drinking animal's RFID identification.

3. A valve in the suckling unit opens for water, when the animal activates or triggers the suckling unit.

4. The water level in the water tank is recorded continuously.

5. The water level in the collection means is recorded continuously.

6. The animal stops drinking and the water amount and/or the water change in the water tank and the collection means is saved in an individual record of the animal.

In the example above, the water tank is regularly filled and the collection means is regularly emptied.

In an embodiment of the apparatus, animals are fed liquid; however dry food, such as pellets, is an option. Further, in one embodiment of the apparatus, a single animal or a group of animals in stalls take in liquid from the same liquid dispenser, however in another embodiment, the apparatus is used not only on farms but also in zoos, animal parks, for sport horses, for laboratory animals, in animal clinics or in kennels. One advantage is to allow animals in groups to receive liquid individually. Another advantage is the recording of individual animals' liquid intake behaviour, which has obvious uses for optimizing provision of water, improved animal welfare, animal research, and ease the human interaction with animals.

While specific and preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail above to illustrate the inventive principles, it will be understood that variants to these embodiments may be provided without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims. The invention may for instance be used for surveillance of liquid intake of chicken on a chicken farm.

Claims

1 . An apparatus for surveillance of liquid intake, such as water intake, by at least one animal in a livestock, e.g. a domestic herd, said apparatus comprising

a liquid dispensing means;

a measuring means;

a plurality of sensor means for measuring the liquid intake, and

an electronic monitoring system,

wherein

the measuring means is adapted for measuring waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal, and the electronic monitoring system is arranged to record information from the measuring means and the plurality of sensor means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the measuring means comprises a collection means arranged to collect waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal.

3. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein measuring means comprises at least one rotation means which is rotated by waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal.

4. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, comprising individual animal identification means, such as RFID identification, for identification of individual animal tags, such as RFID tags.

5. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid dispensing means is arranged inside a housing above the measuring means.

6. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the liquid intake is recorded continuously.

7. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic monitoring system for determining a liquid intake behaviour of at least one animal comprises means for calculating liquid intake speed, individual animal number, time and date, number of visits to the feeding dispenser means, time between drinking sessions, duration of the drinking, amount of dispensed liquid, amount of wasted liquid, and amount of liquid intake.

8. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a mixing chamber for adding vaccination and/or medication, such as antibiotics, and/or additives (e.g. vitamins, minerals, drugs, nutrients) to the liquid, whereby precisely controlled individual intake of vaccination and/or medication and/or additives is allowed.

9. An apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus is used on large scale animal farms.

10. A method for surveillance of liquid intake by at least one animal in a livestock, said method comprising the steps of

dispensing an amount of liquid to an individual animal;

collecting waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal;

measuring the amount of waste liquid not consumed by the individual animal;

calculating the amount of liquid consumed by the individual animal by subtracting the amount of waste liquid from the dispensed amount of liquid, and

recording at least said calculated amount of liquid consumed by the individual animal.

1 1. A method according to claim 10, whereby a plurality of the liquid intake speed, the individual animal number, the time and date, number of drinking visits, the time between drinking sessions, the duration of the drinking, the amount of dispensed liquid, the amount of wasted liquid, and the precise amount of liquid intake, is recorded and/or is available for further processing.

12. A method according to claim 10 or 1 1 , whereby at least one animal in a livestock are vaccinated and/or given medication, such as antibiotics, and/or additives, individually mixed in their respective liquid, before the liquid is dispensed.