The Implementation of Energy-Saving Lighting Systems for Poultry Houses

The provision of lighting in poultry shelters is an energy-intensive process in poultry farming, due to a lack of sunlight in closed facilities. Lighting plays an important role in the majority of organism biorhythms and it clocks the processes of vital activities of the birds. Lighting directly influences productivity, growth and sexual maturation of birds. A determining factor for the lifetime of an LED is the crystal heating temperature during its operation. It may be assumed that the LED lifetime is largely independent of the variation in the current passing through the LED (within the limits of its design values). The research objective was to conduct laboratory testing to compare the electricity consumption between the existing and a newly developed lighting system for poultry house no. 19 of the Kuchinsky Poultry Breeding Plant. In order to conduct the laboratory testing, the authors developed lighting fixtures consisting of sealed plastic bodies with an LED-carrying PCB inside. The testing continued for 113 days. The new system consumed 662 kWh, while the previous system consumed 783 kWh. Energy savings through the testing period amounted to 15%. During the testing, the new equipment was reliable; no failures of LED fixtures were recorded. Keywords: LED lighting, energy conservation, poultry farming, microclimat

Developing Algorithms and a Mathematical Model for Monitoring the Physiological State of Cattle

This study involved theoretical and experimental research at farms with existing hardware and software. Measurements were conducted with non-invasive methods using special bolus transmitters (smaXtec animal care GmbH, Graz, Austria) developed for cow health monitoring. The boluses were introduced orally into the rumen of the studied cows. Algorithms and mathematical models were constructed for identifying estrus, calving and illnesses, and for monitoring feed and water consumption. Initial data were imported from a standard file, compatible with other applications (CSV table). Additionally, correlations were analyzed between temperature indicators, the rumen pH and the motor activity of the cattle. Illustrations include plots of the main vital factors and the correlated functions, and a screenshot of the software working console. Also included are tables with the results for each cow, the average values and the RMS deviation. The mathematical model developed is a set of algorithms and calculation results. Code for its implementation was written in Matlab R2019b and is attached to this report. This mathematical model may be used to process and interpret data obtained by boluses put into the rumen of animals. Keywords: cattle, rumen acidity, temperature, motor activity, estrus, calvin

Rationale for Parameters of Energy-Saving Illumination inside Agricultural Premises and Method of Its Values Calculation

High-quality lighting of premises in the cultivation of farm animals is an important condition for the successful development of the agro-industrial complex. Sufficient lighting with the simulation of sunrise and sunset which increases daylight hours to 15–16 h can raise the level of production by 8–15%. The most innovative, economical and efficient light source for livestock, poultry and greenhouse buildings are LED lamps allowing for a short payback period. The difference between the models developed by the authors and the traditional point method is taking into account lamp length o, lamp suspension height, location of the illuminated area under the lamp at displacement and observation angles, and luminous flux of light source, and the most important thing is body angle of the light source. This paper presents the method for calculating illumination under the LED lamp due to the large error in the values obtained by theoretical methods due to the lack of a correction factor for changing the illumination of the lamp (0.8). Prediction of crystal heating was carried out by verification calculation in the ANSYS/CFX software package. Forecasting the illumination of the fodder table was carried out by calculation in the DIALux evo software package. The main parameters of an energy-saving LED lamp (power consumption, luminous flux, color temperature and color) were selected. The consumption of electrical energy decreased by 85%; the average level of illumination increased and amounted to 123.1 lux. The developed method for calculating the illumination under the LED lamp can be considered satisfactory, the Student and Fisher criteria do not exceed tabular values and the correlation coefficient showed a close relationship. To comply with electrical safety standards in the premises, a resonant power supply system for LED lamps is offered

Development of an Algorithm for Rapid Herd Evaluation and Predicting Milk Yield of Mastitis Cows Based on Infrared Thermography

The aim of this study was to explore the possibility of assessing the health status of a cow’s udder using infrared thermography. We studied the effect of mastitis on cow milk yield, the effect of mastitis on udder surface skin temperature, and the dependence between severity of mastitis and udder temperature. We determined the presence of a significant relationship between the udder surface skin temperature and the milk yield of mastitis cows (Coefficient of determination = 0.886, linear Pearson correlation coefficient = −0.96), as well as the absence of a significant relationship between the udder surface skin temperature and the milk yield of healthy cows (Coefficient of determination = 0.029, linear Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.16). We substantiated the temperature ranges of the udder surface of healthy cows [32–35.9 °C] and mastitis [36.1–39 °C]. The obtained data made it possible to form an algorithm that allows a quick assessment of the herd for the presence of udder disease, using infrared images of the udder surface skin temperature