Subtle changes in an animals daily behaviors can be an early indication of a potential change in health, welfare, or performance.  However, these subtle changes are not something that producers are able to observe or track. 

 A research team at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has been working to change this by developing a computer vision platform that can track these subtle changes in an animals daily behavior.

 Ty Schmidt, associate professor, and Benny Mote, associate professor in the Department of Animal Science and Eric Psota, adjunct research professor, Ben Riggan, associate professor, and Lance Pérez, Dean, College of Engineering at the university, have teamed up to create the NUtrack Livestock Monitoring System - a computer vision based platform that is able to track subtle changes in the time an animal spends walking, standing, lying, sitting, and resting.

 The NUtrack system is also able to determine the amount of time an animal spends at the feeder and distance walked each day.  With these capabilities, the system may soon be a tool to assist producers to track the health of their livestock.

 While NUtrack is not yet ready for use by commercial producer, the research team is hopeful that eventually the system will be commercially developed into a product that could assist producers in the identification of sick or injured animals, allowing them to treat the animals and create an action plan to combat the issue.

 “One goal for developing the NUtrack system is to create a tool that can assist producers in rapidly and accurately identifying sick or injured animals through tracking subtle changes in the animals behavior,” Schmidt said.

The NUtrack system utilizes commercially available security cameras that can be installed over top of a pen and captures continuous video of the animals.  The captured video is broken down into individual images and processed using proprietary computer vision programming created here at the university. This computer vision program allows the NUtrack system to identify individual animals and track the behaviors of each individual animal.

 “Ultimately, the team envisions the NUtrack system to assist producers by providing them a daily report on their computer of animals that need special attention,” Schmidt said.

With the NUtrack systems ability to track the behavior of individual animals, the team envisions numerous areas of livestock production where NUtrack can assist Nebraska’s livestock industry, Mote said.

Specifically, the NUtrack system:

1. Assists in selection of genetically efficient animals (animals that burn less calories due to not being excessively/needlessly active), which could possibly reduce the cost of gain and ultimately increase production efficiency.
2. Accurately determines the number of animals loaded or off loaded that could be a significant tool managing animal inventory.
3. Ensures that potential labor shortages will not compromise the health and welfare of livestock, especially at a time of significant labor challenges.

 NUtrack has many opportunities for assisting livestock producers to become even more successful. The three components above are just a peak into to what NUtrack will be able to offer producers.

NUtrack Process

Currently, NUtrack has only been validated on tracking group housed pigs, but in the future, the research team looks to expand the research to tracking the behaviors of feedlot cattle.

 “NUtrack was developed to track individual animals by looking for certain features of pigs including the ears, hip, snout, and shoulders,” Mote said.

 Doing so allows the system to accurately track the pig’s movements.  Specifically, each pig is tagged with a regular ear tag to enhance the system’s ability to maintain individual identification and provide a means for the producer to visually identify a specific pig.  These tags vary color and alpha-numeric sequence and the system is trained to recognize these specific color/number combinations. 

 “Different colored ear tags are used to make tracking easy for both NUtrack and the human observer,” Mote said.

 When the team started the development of NUtrack, a key feature for the system was to try and make it an affordable system that could easily be installed by the producer.

 “For producers to use a system like NUtrack, it is vital that the cost of operating the system is financially feasible,” Schmidt said. “The industry needed something that can accurately track animals without needing expensive technology and the NUtrack system does that.”

Benefits of NUtrack  

The NUtrack system is a refined computer vision platform that allows the system to be able adapt quickly to keep track of individual pigs within a group setting.

This system is different from other types of precision livestock technology that are designed to monitor the environment (such as temperature, air quality, humidity), water usage, and food intake, as well as other factors.

 What really sets the NUtrack system apart from other types of precision livestock technology is that NUtrack focuses on individual animals in group housed settings.

 “By tracking animal’s behaviors and identifying subtle changes, the system potentially will be able to assist producers in the early identification of sick or injured animals , which would increase a producer’s ability to ensure that they are providing their livestock with the highest level of health and welfare, “Schmidt said. “This, in turn, will ultimately improve the overall production of livestock operations.”

Future of the NUtrack System

With technology always changing throughout the agricultural industry, it is important to keep up with those changes.

 “The future of NUtrack relies on the continued advancements in the field of computer vision, and as the field of computer vision progresses, so will the capabilities of the system,” Schmidt said.

Having affordable options is also beneficial. 

 “Technology not only is constantly improving, we are also seeing it become cheaper and as

things keep progressing,” Mote said. “Hopefully this will make NUtrack more affordable.”

 With technology changing, it has allowed the NUtrack team to create a system that producers would want and be able to use.

 “The ultimate goal is for NUtrack, or a variation of the technology, to be in every swine facility and every feedlot in Nebraska,” Schmidt said. “With it, producers could sit with a cup of coffee each morning and review a printout with valuable information that identifies exactly which animals need to be checked more closely.”

 For more information about the NUtrack system, visit https://animalscience.unl.edu/nutrack-livestock-monitoring.

Key Takeaways

1. The development of technology like the NUtrack system may allow producers to learn more about their livestock – particularly if changes in behavior may be an early indicator that animals are becoming sick before symptoms are visible.
2. While it is not yet available to the public, the NUtrack research team is hopeful that the NUtrack system, or something similar, will eventually allow producers to be aware of the illnesses that might impact their livestock so they can create an action plan to combat the issue.
3. Today, using the NUtrack system as a research tool, the research team will help Nebraska’s livestock industry, by reducing costs of grain, identifying sick animals early, and offering needed ‘labor’ support.
4. The NUtrack system may not be limited to just livestock.  Currently the research team is also working with the Lincoln Children’s Zoo to track the behavior of cheetahs.

For more information about the NUtrack system visit https://animalscience.unl.edu/nutrack-livestock-monitoring