A Senior Strategic Advisor with Maximus Systems says smart technology is taking over more and more control of the operation of the swine barn.
"Smart Systems in Pig Production" was among the topics discussed last week as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2018.
Dr. Tom Stein, a Senior Strategic Advisor with Maximus Systems, says these new computerized modular controllers can already do all sorts of things and the list is growing.
Clip-Dr. Tom Stein-Maximus Systems:
They can run and manage the temperature in medication coolers, they manage the temperature in semen coolers, they can run truck washes, run the drying bay, they can run the baking bay, they can run the lights and manage the power.
SaskPower has a program now that if pork producers put in ECM fans and manage heat pads or heat lamps in a smart way, they'll provide funding to invest and guarantee a two year pay back on that from power savings.
The thing is the scope of what these computers in barns can do has grown enormously.
There's a lot of technology, almost a wave coming.
There's going to be things like artificial intelligence based, listening for piglet squeals and sending a signal to a sow to get her to stand up, cough monitors where you hang them in finishing barns and it can track the cough and what type of a cough it is and relate that back to the production managers, to the veterinarians so you can go in and adopt early.
That's just a simple example of a couple of technologies that are right there.
They're going to be there in 2019.
Dr. Stein says, with back up batteries or standby generators, these systems are completely reliable and are capable of operating for days even when, for some reason, employees might not be able to get to the barn.
Source : farmscape