Sow Posture Analysis and Estrus Prediction Using Closed-Circuit Television Cameras

Predicting sow estrus from CCTV footage with YOLOv5 posture detection and a Bi-LSTM over posture time series

IEEE Access 2024

Sookeun Song1, Taegeun Kang1, KyungTae Lim2, Konmin Kim3, Hyunbean Yi1

1Department of Computer Engineering, Hanbat National University 2Department of Applied AI, Seoul National University of Science and Technology 3Gfarm Alliance Agricultural Company Ltd.

Abstract

Sow estrus detection is one of the most critical tasks for improving the production performance of pig farms. However, accurately determining the onset of estrus is challenging because it is time consuming to check each sow and their performance, particularly during specific working hours. Moreover, estrus determination criteria are not standardized, as managers rely on their individual experiences. In this study, we proposed a method for predicting sow estrus using deep learning techniques. To detect sows and classify their postures, we used a lightweight deep-learning-based object detection model, You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5). We trained one of the prediction models, Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM), which is a supervised learning model, using the time series data composed of a combination of each posture and holding time. By setting the ground truth as data from 24 h before the manager’s estrus determination, we achieved an estrus prediction accuracy of 86 %. This study demonstrates the potential of using closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to predict sow estrus, and the proposed method can contribute to reducing the labor required for sow estrus checks.

Keywords Sow estrus detection Posture classification Pig farming / precision livestock farming CCTV video analysis YOLOv5 object detection Bi-LSTM Time series classification Animal behavior monitoring

Main Findings

As stated in the published abstract:

  • Two-stage pipeline. A lightweight YOLOv5 detector finds each sow and classifies its posture in CCTV footage; a Bi-LSTM is trained on time series that combine each posture with its holding time.
  • 86% estrus prediction accuracy when the ground truth is set to the data from the 24 hours before the farm manager’s estrus determination.
  • Labor reduction. The results indicate that ordinary CCTV cameras can support estrus checks that otherwise require managers to inspect each sow based on individual experience.

BibTeX

@article{Song_2024,
  title={Sow Posture Analysis and Estrus Prediction Using Closed-Circuit Television Cameras},
  volume={12},
  ISSN={2169-3536},
  url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3357237},
  DOI={10.1109/access.2024.3357237},
  journal={IEEE Access},
  publisher={Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)},
  author={Song, Sookeun and Kang, Taegeun and Lim, Kyungtae and Kim, Konmin and Yi, Hyunbean},
  year={2024},
  pages={17460–17466}
}
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