The facilities chosen are SPM Farm, which raises pedigree swine, and Nam Fon Farm, which raises milking cows.

Vivat Chavananikul, associate professor at Chulalongkorn's Animal Husbandry Department, said the goal was to replace the imported RFID (radio frequency identification system) the two farms are currently using for  the locally developed RFID system.

SPM Farm requires a 24-hour automatic feeding system for its 8,000 swine. Vivat said the project aimed to embed RFID ear tags into the animals, containing each pig's ID, age, weight and size.

It will also embed an RFID reader at the gate of each food lane, so that when each animal passes through, its ID can be detected and sent to a central computer system where its personal data can be called up. The system will then feed each animal in accordance with its computerised "body score" and condition.

"If a particular animal is overweight and eats too often, the system can monitor it with an RFID ear tag and feed it small amounts of food, but in several doses. On the other hand, if another animal is too lean and does not eat properly, the system will give it more food, and maybe for longer periods," said Vivat.

With this system, farm owners know the body score and condition of each swine individually. It automatically helps them to breed the animals more efficiently.

Vivat said the automatic feeding system would help the farm owner improve the quality of the animals' lives as they would be able to move around freely and eat whenever they wanted, instead of having to do so according to a strict timetable.

For Nam Fon Farm, Vivat said the farm required RFID in bolus form (soft ball or pill) to embed in its 1,200 cows, as well as the gate system.

Each cow would get an embedded RFID chip containing its ID. To monitor the milking of each cow, the milking machine is also equipped with a flow meter to measure the amount each cow provides.

This information is stored in the RFID system, giving farmers the status of each cow for further analysis.

"Farm owners will be able to distinguish which cows produce more milk and the ones that give less. Meanwhile, they will also know the total amount of milk the farm produces and how it can improve productivity," said Vivat.

He said the developers hoped the system would enable owners to reduce costs, improve management efficiency and increase productivity.

The pilot test in these two farms is a result of the second phase of the RFID-for-farm automation development project which started in May last year and continues until November.

The project was granted Bt3.9 million by Nectec to cover development of the RFID tag, basic software as well as the complete RFID system, with the goal of enhancing automation on farms.

Vivat said the second phase of the project involved development of the basic software needed to  collect data on any type of animal, from swine and cows, to sheep, buffalo and even rabbits, and an RFID chip for embedding in different forms - via bolus, ear tags, and microchips - to suit each kind of animal.

Vivat said that once all the development work was complete, Chulalongkorn and Nectec planned to transfer the technology to farmers via training courses. Chulalongkron students who operate the university's pilot farm in Nakhon Pathom, students from other universities, and owners of commercial farms will benefit.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation