Precision Livestock Farming improves animal welfare

What is Precision Livestock Farming?

Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) refers to the use of advanced technologies (such as sensors, control systems, and software) to monitor and manage livestock production at a highly detailed level. The aim is to optimize animal health, welfare, and productivity while reducing labor and environmental impact. Key principles include:

Continuous monitoring of animal and environmental parameters
Data-driven decision-making
Automation of control actions
Integration of different systems into a unified platform

Why is Precision Livestock Farming important for the future of farming?

The smart technology of Precision Livestock Farming enables individual animals to be monitored more closely on farms that continue to upscale the size of their operations.

The growing world population implies that the demand for meat and eggs will increase by more than 65% over the next 40 years. In order to secure food supplies for more than nine billion people worldwide, the number of pigs and chickens and the scale of farms where they are raised must increase. A parallel development is the declining number of farmers. This means that each farmer has to care for a growing numbers of animals, while there is an increase in demand from society that the right of animals to individual attention is respected. Because of this, precision livestock technologies are of great importance to deal with these challenges.

How Fancom solutions align with PLF

Fancom’s solutions embody the essence of Precision Livestock Farming by integrating sensor-based monitoring, automated controls, centralized data analysis, and proactive management tools. They provide farmers with the technology to optimize performance and welfare, reduce costs, and make better decisions, making them a practical and applied form of PLF.

1. Sensor-based monitoring

Fancom’s systems use a range of sensors to gather real-time data on:

Climate (temperature, humidity, CO₂, ammonia)
Animal behavior (growth, feed/water intake, movement)
Ventilation and air flow
Feed and water consumption

This data is critical for fine-tuned management and is an aspect of PLF.

2. Automated control systems

Solutions like climate controllers (e.g. Lumina or Fancom One) automatically adjust ventilation, heating, and cooling systems based on sensor data. This ensures optimal conditions for the animals without manual intervention.

Such real-time, automated responsiveness is central to PLF.

3. Centralized data analysis

Fancom’s Fancom One Smart Farm Ecosystem and related control systems integrate climate, feed, water, and animal weight monitoring into a unified interface. This holistic view enables farmers to manage the entire production process more precisely and the software tools allow for:

Alerting and notifications for deviations
Historical data tracking
Benchmarking of performance
Remote management and insights

This helps farmers shift from reactive to proactive and predictive management, a core principle of PLF.

4. Animal welfare and sustainability

By maintaining stable and healthy environments, Fancom systems help:

Reduce disease incidence
Improve animal growth and welfare
Lower resource use (energy, feed, water)

These are critical outcomes of PLF, targeting both ethical and economic performance.

Fancom empowers farmers in over 50 countries with smart livestock technologies that optimize animal welfare, boost efficiency, and reduce costs. Uniting advanced automation, real-world farming expertise, and cutting-edge research to create a more sustainable future for intensive livestock farming.

Fancom One

Fancom One is Fancom’s brand new smart control system that takes farm management to the next level. This advanced system is not just a traditional solution: it is a complete Smart Farm Ecosystem. Fancom One helps your farm work smarter by learning what your animals need for optimum growth, the best times to feed them, and when equipment needs maintenance. It uses farm data to predict and improve operations, helping you care for your animals, boost efficiency, and reduce environmental impact.

The new Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technology is also applied within the scope of Fancom One.

Measuring animal welfare

For many years, advanced technology has been used to automate climate and feeding systems in animal housing. However, when it comes to evaluating animal welfare, we still often rely on outdated, subjective methods like occasional visual inspections or even assessments after slaughter. This approach gives an incomplete and often inaccurate picture of the animals' well-being.

To truly understand animal welfare, it’s essential to monitor not just the environment, but also the animal itself. Observing skin conditions, body shape, and unusual behavior can provide valuable data about how the animal is doing.

Automatic monitoring offers several clear advantages over manual inspections. It provides continuous, real-time data and is more objective. Manual checks, on the other hand, are time-consuming and can disrupt the animals’ routine, leading to misleading results. This disruption may cause the actual welfare situation to be misunderstood or overlooked entirely.

Precision Livestock Farming technology keeps a watchful eye on the animals 24/7

Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) is a collective name for a suite of technologies that we use on and around the animals in the house to continuously monitor their body condition. A key factor is that PLF enables animals to be monitored as a group from minute to minute, 24/7. This systematic monitoring allows certain patterns to be recognised. If those patterns differ from the expected patterns, an early-warning system can be developed based on these signals.

To get a better understanding of the advantages that come with it, watch the interview with Prof. Berckmans.

Measurement technology

Various sensor technology is used to make measurements on and around the animal. This includes chips placed in or on animals and cameras and microphones that register data remotely. A good example is the eYeGrow weight monitor that utilises camera technology. eYeGrow can monitor the development of a group of finishers from day to day. But existing systems already installed in the house also generate valuable information about the animals. For example, your feeding system provides data on feed and water consumption and an animal weighing system gives an indication of animal activity. The software indicates that animals are:

Moving around less.
Failing to eat or drink.
Having a growth rate that is slowing down.

Something is evidently wrong, as all these signals are often a first sign of illness. A system of continuous monitoring is far more likely to detect these signals, often before the farmer actually notices them. This precision livestock technology allows faster and more targeted intervention. Other similar technologies are:

What does Precision Livestock Farming mean for farmers?

Our technology can never replace the role of the farmer. However, PLF makes it possible for farmers to allocate their valuable time more efficiently. With PLF applications, farmers can direct their attention to the individual animals that need their help. On their daily inspection of the houses, they can concentrate on the places that need attention, or where problems are a potential threat. This is set to change the lives of farmers and their animals. Farmers can take action as soon as an animal is experiencing any problems. In addition, they can devote more time to preventing problems, so that animals can be reared, or can produce, in a healthy and animal-friendly way.

See the video below to get an idea of how Heather Edwards of Morton Growers Ltd uses Fancom's systems.

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