263 Precision livestock feeding for improving animal welfare.

Abstract

Generating a population of livestock animals that is resilient to environmental challenges requires identifying those that have the capacity to cope to changes within with their current conditions (i.e., plasticity). Technological advancements have progressed sufficiently to realistically monitor the feeding behavior of individual livestock animals while they are housed in large groups. Monitoring individual animal consumption patterns while in commercially relevant social group sizes and under real-world management strategies presents an opportunity to identify specific individuals that are well suited to the current and future commercial production environments. Historically, many animals in production settings have been monitored and evaluated as groups, an assessment strategy that is vulnerable to overlooking the welfare challenges of individuals in favor of group averages and omits the opportunity to identify individuals that are thriving (or suffering) in their current paradigm. Understanding how individual animals consume feed and interact with their environment can facilitate the characterization of behavioral phenotypes for either feed efficiency, water efficiency, thermotolerance, or social tolerance. Consumption patterns are controlled by neurological (e.g., autonomic nervous system, limbic system) and hormonal mechanisms (e.g., serotonergic system, ghrelin and leptin cycles), thus, evaluating individual feeding behavior can be used to identify behavioral phenotypes that inform genetic selection efforts. Precision feeding efforts can improve welfare by 1) using data to characterize behavioral phenotypes and identify real-time responses to consumption patterns, 2) early detection of injury or disease onset, and 3) assurances that all individuals within a group are accessing adequate nutrition. While many of the physical technologies needed to collect feeding data have been developed, and their costs have been decreasing over time, the new frontier in our understanding of individual feeding behavior is in the analysis, interpretation, and relevance to other traits important (e.g., water efficiency, thermotolerance, aggression) to regenerative agriculture.