In recent years, the focus on sustainable meat production in large-scale pig farming has increased. An essential element is acquiring and evaluating digital data on ecological, outdoor pig housing environments and individuals.
Some of the precision farming Internet of Things (IoT) tools that can be used in pasture-based, extensive pig production include those that have been proven in pasture-based ruminants and have been used in confined pig production for many years. These include Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology, in which passive RFID tags attached to pigs’ ears capture signals from a reader equipped with an antenna. The reader can also be used to collect weather parameters.
In our on-farm research, which lasted 7 months and covered three seasons, we used RFID technology to investigate the effects of ambient temperature, humidity, air pressure, and hour of day on the appearance of breeding sows kept on pasture at the wallowing site.
We found that all three weather parameters and hour-of-day had a significant effect (
In pasture-based pig production systems, the meat production process is performed under extensive conditions of natural animal-environment interaction. The negative impact on the natural environment is much lower, but animal welfare is higher than in intensive pig farming. It is also a profit-oriented activity, where the production of traceable and reliable animal products is a social and economic requirement. Collecting information from trusted sources using precision livestock farming (PLF) techniques is also feasible in this type of farming, providing significant added value for pig farmers and consumers.