AP is introducing an advanced feed management system that enables swine producers to better monitor, analyze and control all of their barn functions that can impact animal consumption and productivity.
The system, unveiled at the 2021 World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, allows producers to predict when feed bins will be empty, sends alerts regarding out-of-feed situations and tracks animal consumption patterns in near real time.
“Although there are currently other feed management systems available, they focus primarily on monitoring feed bin inventories,” said Brian Rieck, senior manager of product management for AGCO, AP’s parent company. “AP’s technology integrates all critical barn functions — heating, ventilation, and feed and watering systems — into a complete solution for managing the animal production process.”
AP’s system utilizes a single dashboard interface, enabling producers and integrators to monitor a single operation or remotely oversee multiple hog farms, regardless of geographic location. Key features include:
- Notifications — Users are alerted to any issue that requires attention, such as running out of feed or a consumption pattern concern. “Out-of-feed conditions can be expensive in terms of lost productivity, even for an hour, and can cost producers up to $1.85 per pig, per feed outage event,” Rieck noted.*
- Insights — Predictive insights let you know when feed tanks are estimated to be empty based on current consumption trends. Analyze historical data to determine equipment, animal and barn performance to gain data-backed insights on your operation, be it a single barn or an entire operation.
- No-dispensing alert — Should pigs stop eating for any reason, whether equipment- or health-related, producers are alerted so the problem can be quickly identified and addressed.
- Customized reordering — Producers can set how much advance notice they want when feed bins are running low, making communication between the feed mill and their operation easier.
- External integration — The system has the ability to share data with external sources that are related to the swine operation, such as feed mills, veterinarians, and animal health and business management software.
Rieck said the feed management system can be installed in barns that are already equipped with AP’s EDGE® controller. For operations that do not have the EDGE controller, AP offers an add-on solution to their existing controller to deliver feed, water and temperature data remotely as well.
For additional information, producers and integrators can contact their local AP dealer or visit www.automatedproduction.com.
*Sources: Mike Brumm, Brian Richert, Jeremy Forde, National Pork Board, Purdue University, University of Nebraska and Kansas State University
