Livestock producers are encouraged to learn first hand about advances in precision livestock farming (PLF) by attending the second U.S. Precision Livestock Conference. Hosted by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, the conference will be held in Knoxville and the agenda includes seminars, demonstrations, interaction with PLF providers and site tours.
Precision Livestock Farming involves the real-time monitoring of images, sounds and other biological, physiological and environmental parameters to assess and improve individual animal health and well-being within herd or flock production systems.
The conference will be May 21-24, 2023, at the UT Conference Center in Knoxville. The event will occur in-person, but participants may also choose to attend virtually. In-person attendees will be treated to an optional tour of UTIA’s Johnson Research and Teaching Unit (JRTU) and the UT East Tennessee AgResearch Little River Animal and Environmental Unit. Participants will tour the animal research facility that houses an active poultry PLF research program. This tour will exhibit ongoing precision poultry research focused on animal management, environmental control and housing. At “Little River,” participants will visit UT’s new, state-of-the-art dairy farm, nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Little River unit is home to UT’s new Lely robotic milking systems. These systems run in parallel with conventional milkers, stimulating a wide range of research that can directly assess the value of PLF systems.
Attendees to the 2023 U.S. Precision Livestock Conference will exchange research discoveries, and the conference will foster collaboration among engineers, animal scientists, veterinarians, ethologists and other professionals as well as producers. UT AgResearch has formalized a PLF initiative to positively impact livestock and poultry production in Tennessee, the U.S. and beyond; and UT PLF Program Coordinator Robert Burns, distinguished professor of biosystems engineering, is serving as the conference chair. Yang Zhao, assistant professor of animal science, is conference proceedings chair, and Tami Brown-Brandl, professor of biological systems engineering a the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is the program chair.
Topics to be discussed include:
Sensors and Sensing in PLF
Data Management and Algorithm Development
Measuring, Modeling and Managing of Dynamic Responses
Societal Impacts of PLF
Commercial PLF systems and field application experiences will also be shared.
An opportunity for vendors to interact with attendees is also on the agenda. The opportunity to intereact with PLF providers will continue throughout the event in the main meeting foyer where breaks and receptions will be held.
For more information about the conference, including registration, please visit plf.tennessee.wedu/usplf2023/. For information about sponsorships and participating as a PLF vendor, contact Robert Burns at rburns@utk.edu.
The first U.S. Precision Livestock Conference was held in 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Through its land-grant mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. utia.tennessee.edu.