The Animal Welfare and Technology professorship focuses on measuring and monitoring animal health, behaviour and welfare using advanced technology. We are working on how data and sensors can be applied for different animal species and sectors.
The aim of the Precision Livestock Farming professorship is to facilitate smarter and more efficient farming (smart farming) and to use data for more precise operational management. By collecting more information about the individual animal, it is easier to prevent illness, reduce the amount of raw materials and antibiotics needed, and to increase the animal’s performance. More and, specifically, better knowledge of the animal’s behaviour and health status can improve its well-being.
The professorship focuses on measuring and monitoring animal behaviour and animal health in various animal sectors. The research programmes are cross-species, and experiences are shared and exchanged across the different animal species and sectors. For example, we conduct research into body temperature and thermography in dairy cows and horses, we measure climate and health in pig houses, poultry houses and stables and we investigate social behaviour in dairy cows and mice.
We estimate weight using cameras for pigs, cows and horses and manually or automatically measure the body condition score in cats, dogs, horses and cows. This enables us to gain an increasing body of knowledge concerning the application of sensors to monitor the health, behaviour and welfare of animals. The research is driven by the desire to improve animal welfare with the aid of technology and data, whether the animal is kept for companionship, production or research. Knowledge and experience acquired in the different sectors are used in this process.
The professorship is part of the professors’ platform ‘Humane Animal Husbandry in Practice’, where the professor is one of the leading lectors. We collaborate with professors from the green universities of applied sciences, Avans and CHE, and with Utrecht University, Wageningen University, ZLTO and the Dutch Council on Animal Affairs. More information
The Animal Welfare and Technology professorship works closely with three farms where we offer practical training and perform research projects:
Hoeve Boveneind
Hoeve Boveneind dairy farm is owned and run by Wilfred de Bruijn. Here, HAS green academy can link the cows’ behaviour and activity using neck and leg tags to their location using positioning technology from Nedap. Together with the other data collected at the farm, this information offers a wealth of opportunities for this research group to perform practical research. Research at Hoeve Boveneind studies a wide range of topics including heat stress, health around calving, lameness and social interaction in the herd.
Pels Melkvee
Research performed by HAS green academy at the Pels dairy farm focuses primarily on health and behaviour of the dairy cows, indoors as well as on pasture. The cows are monitored via the neck tags and the Body Condition Score Camera from Delaval. Example projects at the farm are the study into ketosis and health around calving, social behaviour and hierarchy in the group, and Body Condition Scores in the cows.
Berkhout Varkens
Berkhout Varkens in Sint-Oedenrode is a true family-run farm. The van den Berkmortel family operates a closed farm system, including rearing their own mother pigs, in compliance with the Better Life quality label criteria. Students of the Animal Husbandry and Applied Biology study programmes go on field trips to this farm as well as carrying out research projects there. In this farm, we are studying behaviour and health of sows with piglets, weaned piglets and fattening pigs, and an example project is the use of a Cough Monitor system to monitor lung health of pigs.
Reports, summaries and articles
View all reports, summaries and articles of projects from the professorship in Greeni
Inauguration speech
Publication inauguration speech professor Lenny van Erp, October 2016
Thesis
Journal articles
Scientific articles
Contribute to congresses
The Animal Welfare and Technology professorship works with Datacamp, a virtual classroom where students and colleagues can follow data science courses.
Most animals kept for production or companionship are group animals, where social behaviour and social interaction between the animals are an essential part of their behavioural pattern and a precondition for good animal welfare. In the research line the Animal Welfare and Technology professorship studies social interactions between animals in small and large groups and link this to animal welfare and health.
Animal husbandry relies increasingly on technology to continuously monitor animal behaviour, animal health, production and the environmental impact. The HAS Green Academy Animal Welfare and Technology professorship is conducting research into this within the precision livestock farming research line.
Individual sensors are used bij the Animal Welfare & Technology professorship of HAS green academy to measure and monitor the health, behaviour and welfare of each animal. This provides data for individual animals and an animal-specific pattern of data, which we can use to determine the health and welfare status of each animal and find or even predict abnormalities at an early stage.
Keeping animals has an impact on the environment. More sustainable animal husbandry systems reduce the harmful effects on the environment. The Animal Welfare and Technology professorship of HAS green academy is conducting research into this.
The way in which owners or stockpeople treat animals, whether they are kept for production or companionship, is vital for animal welfare. The Animal Welfare and Technology professorship of HAS green academy is conducting research into this. This concerns both livestock animals and pets.
Professor Animal Welfare and Technology
Lecturer-researcher Applied Biology
Lecturer-researcher Applied Biology
Lecturer-researcher Applied Biology
Lecturer-researcher Applied Biology
Lecturer-researcher Applied Biology
Lecturer-researcher Animal Husbandry
The Food Production in a Circular Economy professorship wants to facilitate businesses in the agri-food sector in producing with minimum impact on the environment while making the most efficient use of natural resources. This is mainly done by closing loops and making production processes more sustainable.
As the name suggests, the aim of the Innovative Bio-Monitoring professorship is to apply innovative bio-monitoring techniques – like automatic image and sound recognition - to concrete social issues. The goal is to contribute to protecting and maintaining our biodiversity.
The Climate-robust Landscapes: 'connecting agriculture and nature' professorship is focusing on the question how other forms of agriculture can contribute to improving water quality and stimulating biodiversity through smart use of the landscape.
