Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
How digital tools can enhance layer performance
17 Plays2 years ago
Rob Payne, director of poultry nutrition and technical services at Cargill Animal Nutrition in North America, discusses how digital tools such as near-infrared imaging and cloud-based data management can improve layer performance.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the Feed Strategy Podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm your host, Feed Strategy Senior Reporter, Ann
Digital Tools for Poultry Performance
00:00:11
Speaker
Roos.
00:00:11
Speaker
Rob Payne is Director of Poultry Nutrition and Technical Services at Cargill Animal Nutrition in North America.
00:00:17
Speaker
He will be speaking at this year's Poultry Tech Summit about how digital tools such as near-infrared imaging and cloud-based data management can improve layer performance.
00:00:26
Speaker
He recently joined me to talk about these topics.
00:00:29
Speaker
Here's our conversation.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hi, Rob.
00:00:31
Speaker
Thanks for being here today.
00:00:32
Speaker
Thanks, Ann.
00:00:33
Speaker
It's a pleasure.
Data Management for Optimal Nutrition
00:00:34
Speaker
What will your talk at poultry tech summit be about?
00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, my talk's going to focus on how we manage data, especially we're going to look at layer laying hens, how we manage data, how we,
00:00:51
Speaker
generate the data using one of the tools that I'll talk about, and then how do we manage that data and ultimately use that data to help make decisions about the nutrition program, about management, daily management practices, et cetera.
Near-Infrared Imaging and Fat Pad Assessment
00:01:10
Speaker
Explain how NIR or near infrared imaging can be used to monitor poultry health and performance.
00:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, so historically, when we think of NR, we generally think of it as being used to help us analyze ingredients for their nutritive value and things.
00:01:29
Speaker
But NR is a really fascinating tool that can be applied in a lot of different ways.
00:01:35
Speaker
And one of the ways we're going to focus on is taking the NR, collecting scans of a live animal, in this case a laying hen, and
00:01:47
Speaker
we've developed calibrations that specifically help us measure the fat pad in that lane.
00:01:55
Speaker
And from that, knowing the fat pad can help us make decisions about the nutrition program.
00:02:02
Speaker
And so NR is a great platform because it, it,
00:02:06
Speaker
is going to measure organic bonds.
00:02:09
Speaker
It's not specific to ingredients or live animal.
00:02:13
Speaker
So it has a lot of functionality that we're just now beginning to understand in the live animal space.
00:02:20
Speaker
What does the fat pad in layers tell you about the bird?
00:02:23
Speaker
So in laying hens, fat pad, and this is true for most animals, but fat pad gives us an indication of the quality of the diet they're being fed or if they're being fed too much or not enough because we'll tell if they're, are they storing a lot of fat or are they storing a little fat?
00:02:46
Speaker
On the swine side, quite often we ultrasound pigs to measure 10th rib back fat.
00:02:52
Speaker
It's a
00:02:53
Speaker
for a similar purpose or we measure back fat on sows for similar body conditioning assessments.
00:03:01
Speaker
In this case in laying hens, we're measuring that fat pad to give us a clear indication of
00:03:07
Speaker
Does the laying hen, is she building up enough stores that she can produce an egg for a long period of time?
00:03:15
Speaker
Because we're asking these hens to produce for, in some cases, 100, 120, 130 weeks and beyond.
00:03:24
Speaker
So is she in sufficient body score to be able to maintain that?
00:03:30
Speaker
Is she getting enough nutrients in her diet week in and week out to allow her to maintain that level of performance that we're
00:03:37
Speaker
asking her to do.
Cloud-Based Data Management Benefits
00:03:39
Speaker
So at PTS, you'll be talking about this cloud-based management tool.
00:03:43
Speaker
What is it and how does it work?
00:03:44
Speaker
So the data we were just talking about on measuring the fat pad, ultimately that's going to go up.
00:03:50
Speaker
The calibrations that are built around assessing that on the one hand are cloud-based.
00:03:56
Speaker
And so we're going to be able to make those calculations more or less on the fly to go from taking and capturing a scan, using an NRR, and putting it through a calibration and coming up with an answer almost instantaneously.
00:04:12
Speaker
So that's one way we're going to use the cloud.
00:04:15
Speaker
The other way we're going to talk about is
00:04:18
Speaker
We collect lots of data in lane, hen performance, number of eggs per day, hen persistency, feed intake, water intake, all kinds of variables that we collect.
00:04:32
Speaker
And being able to store this data and put this data into a database, cloud-based database, that we then can...
00:04:40
Speaker
use to assess the performance of that bird, to be able to get to it easily, no matter where we are, to be able to assess the performance and then be able to make real time decisions on the data we're seeing.
00:04:54
Speaker
Cloud enables us to do that much easier.
00:04:58
Speaker
And it allows us, say, multiple people, if we want to have a veterinarian see the same data as a nutritionist, allows multiple people to be able to see that data versus it being stored statically in a single computer, let's say, or in a single mainframe.
00:05:15
Speaker
How much does this system improve the time it takes to adjust feeding to address certain issues in the flock?
00:05:21
Speaker
Hard to put an exact number on it just yet, but certainly from the data performance tool that we've worked with, we're laying hens.
00:05:32
Speaker
We typically adjust laying hens feeding schedule weekly because we want to monitor their
00:05:40
Speaker
their body condition and adapt.
00:05:42
Speaker
Do they need to eat more feed, less feed to maintain that ideal body condition that's gonna help them throughout the laying period.
00:05:51
Speaker
This type of data, historically, this would have, these types of changes would have been largely based on visual observation and or the feeling of the barn managers, the live production managers in the houses.
00:06:07
Speaker
This type of data helps us confirm what they're seeing and what they're feeling with cold hard facts, if you will, which helps us make more proactive decisions in terms of the feeding program, whether it is in line with what they're seeing or feeling.
00:06:32
Speaker
Do the data support that?
00:06:33
Speaker
Or are the data telling us, no, they're on the right path, they need to stay on this particular feeding program for another week or two weeks, etc.
Future Integration with Environmental Factors
00:06:42
Speaker
Is this tool just for the nutritionist or the veterinarian, or can other conditions such as lighting or temperature be monitored and adjusted using the same system?
00:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, in the current design of the system, it's largely about performance data.
00:06:58
Speaker
So the people who are going to be most interested in looking at that data are going to be the live production managers, the veterinarians, the nutritionists.
00:07:09
Speaker
They're the ones who are going to be
00:07:11
Speaker
most likely to take decisions based on what they're seeing in this data, but really this data could be useful or informational to almost anyone in an organization.
00:07:23
Speaker
Today, we don't have the capabilities yet to tie it into the housing management, i.e.
00:07:31
Speaker
the temperature of the lighting.
00:07:33
Speaker
That's a future hope, but we've built it really focused on
00:07:41
Speaker
the decisions we would need to see on a from a nutrition perspective that would help us make better decisions on their programs on the on the feeding program on the nutrient levels etc and we hope to expand it
Current Usage and Development of Tools
00:07:57
Speaker
from there.
00:07:57
Speaker
How many poultry farms or birds are using this technology?
00:08:01
Speaker
For the initial tool, we talked about the measuring of the fat pad.
00:08:05
Speaker
That's a tool that's still very much in development and is very early on in proof of concept out in the field.
00:08:14
Speaker
The data management tool
00:08:17
Speaker
that we use.
00:08:18
Speaker
That tool has been in existence for a number of years.
00:08:23
Speaker
We've recently made some major redesigns and upgrades to it, and that's why I'll be highlighting it.
00:08:31
Speaker
But today, via 20% or so of the U.S. laying in population uses this data management system every
Rob Payne's Interest in New Technologies
00:08:42
Speaker
day.
00:08:42
Speaker
Have you attended Poultry Tech Summit before, and what do you hope to get out of it this year?
00:08:46
Speaker
So I have not attended Poultry Tech Summit before.
00:08:50
Speaker
I tried to go last year, but unfortunately I was there at Georgia Tech at the hotel, but I had to leave for another meeting.
00:08:58
Speaker
So I didn't actually get to go listen to any of the talks.
00:09:03
Speaker
This year, I'm really hoping to see what other technologies are out there that could help either us as nutritionists
00:09:17
Speaker
or producers get better insights into their animals, into their production facilities?
00:09:25
Speaker
And selfishly, from my perspective at Cargill, how could we use some of those tools to help make the information, help us make decisions better based on the information available?
00:09:37
Speaker
All right.
00:09:38
Speaker
Well, I hope you enjoy your first PoultryTuck Summit, and thanks for taking the time today.
Poultry Tech Summit Event Details
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah, thank you.
00:09:43
Speaker
Poultry Tech Summit, scheduled for November 6th through 8th at the Hilton Atlanta Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, will focus on the transition of innovative technologies into commercial applications to advance the poultry industry.
00:09:55
Speaker
Registration is now open at wattglobalmedia.com.
00:09:58
Speaker
You can find a link to the registration page on our website at feedstrategy.com or wattagnet.com.
00:10:05
Speaker
Early bird savings are available until September 29th.
00:10:09
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:10:10
Speaker
I'm Ann Roos for Feed Strategy.