Springe zum Hauptinhalt Springe zur Navigation

1st December 2022 - the PLFDoc accepted for funding

The PLFdoc doctoral school on Precision Livestock Farming was accepted for funding by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). PLFDoc is a collaboration between the Vetmeduni Vienna, the Technical university Vienna and the Univesrity of Applied Science Upper Austria. Research focus of the PLFDoc will be on application of computer vision for monitoring parturition in cows and pigs. The main aim of the PLFDoc is to enhance animal welfare, e.g. through early detection of dystocia and preventing the death of newborns and their dams in this sensitive period and other health- and welfare-related risks. 

PLFDoc

1st October 2022 - Dual PhD agreement signed between Vetmeduni Vienna and KU Leuven

Long standing collaboration between M3Biores and PLF-Hub was formalized through signing of a dual PhD agreement. This agreement provides an opportunity for PhD students at PLF-Hub to obtain a PhD title from both universities i.e. Vetmeduni Vienna and KU Leuven. Additinally, secondments at M3Biores with duration of 6 months are planned for students admitted to the dual PhD programme.

28 November 2022 - 2nd workshop on animal monitoring at Vetmeduni Vienna

Online worshop on animal monotring took place for a second time at Vetmeduni Vienna. This year the focus of the workshop was on computer vision in livestock and digitalization strategy for the research farm of the Vetmeduni Vienna. The summary of the conclussions from ECPLF2022 was presented to the participants.  

Sensor technologies - ECPLF2022

29th August 2022 - PLF-Hub organises the ECPLF & PDC 2022

Conference 29th August - 2nd September 2022 in Vienna, Austria

More Information - Website of ECPLF & PDC 2022

Organizationally and in terms of sponsorship the conference was a success:

  • The most important PLF conference in the world besides USPLF and PLF-Asia

  • 158 papers/posters, 370 participants from 26 countries

  • New PLF projects were committed for the Vetmeduni

  • Good atmosphere and collegial interaction among the participants

Members of ECPLF & PDC organizing team

1st April 2022 - Start of Feedura project in collaboration with Schauer

An exciting new proejct was initiated in collaboration with our industry partner Schauer and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The proejct is focused on computer vision based body condition scoring (BCS) in automated feeding stations for pigs. BCS will be used as an input to optimise the precision feeding for sows. Experimental setup is composed of 10 cameras inside the feeding station.Multiple additinoal sensors were installed as part of the experimental setup e.g. RFID antennas on hay racks and drinkers.     

Back view BCS

14th December 2021 - 1st Workshop on animal monitoring at Vetmeduni Vienna organized by the PLF-Hub

The first online workshop on animal monitoring at Vetmeduni took place with particiaption of approx 25 scientsts from our university and several guests representing the PLF industry (e.g. Soundtalks, Zoetis, Schauer). Additionally representatives of external research consorta provided scientific input during the workshop. We would like to than all the particiapnt for valuable contributions and interesting discussion. 

1st September 2021 - Nick Hockings and Albert Cirera employed at PLF-Hub

We welcome new employes in PLF-Hub Nick Hockings and Albert Cirera. Nick starts in a PostDoc position co-funded by our strategic partner Zoetis and will focus on a project on Machine Perception for PLF. Albert Cirera starts in a PhD position in collaboration with The Clinical Unit of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Intensive-Care Medicine of Vetmeduni Vienna and and will focus on a project on computer vision for pain detection in horses.   

Nick Hockings and Albert Cirera

1st March 2021 - Stefan Kupfer starts at the PLF-Hub

Stefan Kupfer starts in a position of a techncian at PLF-Hub. Stefan will focus on installation, development and testing of various sensor systems for the purpose of livestock monitoring. He will work on specification and development of demonstrator setups where functionality of new sensor technology for monitoring of animals will be tested. This includes developing code for embedded sensor systems and prototyping platforms e.g. Arduino, Raspberry Pi.

Stefan Kupfer

24th September 2020 - Precision Livestock Farming Hub Master Collaborative Research Agreement signed with Zoetis

Zoetis is the largest standalone animal health company in the world and is ranked #1 in market share for biologicals and pharmaceuticals. Zoetis is expanding on its portfolio in the Precision Livestock Farming market and is intensifying its research activity in this area. In this context Zoeits and Vetmeduni Vienna decided to formalise the collaboration in the area of Precision Livestock Farming by signing Master Collaborative Research Agreement. The aim of the collaboration is to:

  • educate new professionals capable of advancing the PLF sector to meet the future demands
  • substantially advance the livestock farming sector as well as improve the economic stability of rural areas
  • validate of developed PLF tools (real-time algorithms)
  • put special interest on the interaction between the user, the animal, and technology
  • contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

1st June 2019 - PLF-Hub established at Vetmeduni Vienna

Digitalization in animal monitoring was named as one of the key action areas impacting all three missions, i.e. research, education, and knowledge transfer at the Vetmeduni. Against a backdrop of digitalization and emergence of new technologies, the Vetmeduni is fortifying its infrastructure for research and teaching through new investments. Among those is establishment of a new research group called Precision Livestock Farming Hub (PLF-Hub) in June 2019 within the Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health.

PLF-Hub will focus on three major area in research on livestock monitoring: solution-oriented research, integration of key welfare, health and production indicators and also wider adoption of image analysis. These major research areas will be supplemented by validation studies on open datasets and advances in robotics.