The development of an automated method to monitor pig welfare and health

The aim of the research project is to develop an automated method for welfare monitoring of pigs based on a limited number of relatively simple parameters.
Ethological and physiological observations will be used as reference in order to develop and validate a monitor based on automatically obtained image and sound measurements of the animals. With use of statistical modelling there will be searched for interrelationships between the relatively simple parameters (image,sound) and the welfare score from ethological observations and physiological parameters.
The monitor will be developed by conducting series of experiments in which fattening pigs will be challenged with management stressors (feed strategy, mixing the animals). Next an adaptive model based on the experimental data will be developed. Finally the model will be integrated in an operational welfare monitor and validated in practise.