Improved Image Analysis Based System to Reliably Predict the Live Weight of Pigs on Farm: Preliminary Results

Abstract

A computer vision system was developed to automatically measure the live weight of pigs without human intervention. The system was trialled on both research and commercial farms to demonstrate the ability of the system to cope with different conditions and non-uniform lighting conditions. Early results demonstrate that the system can achieve sufficient practical accuracy. The results of the initial trials demonstrated that weight of the pigs can be predicted with an average error of 1.18 kg. Precision, reliability and repeatability are likely to be increased in future through improved weight prediction models, increased image resolution and algorithm enhancement.