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TechCare: Technologies to manage the welfare of sheep and goats – from pilots to large-scale studies
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Edité par CCSD ; Wageningen Academic Publishers -
Session 42. Digital technologies for management. International audience. An animal communicates its welfare state through changes in behaviour and physiology. TechCare explores potential technologies to manage the welfare of sheep and goats along the value chain. After stakeholders prioritised welfare issues in the nine project countries, technologies were identified, selected and tested in sheep and goat pilot farms in various environments. Thirteen technologies were evaluated in 5 countries (France, Israel, Italy, Norway, UK). Welfare assessments were also carried out. Five technologies were subsequently retained for further evaluation on commercial farms in 5 countries: indoor/outdoor weather stations and EID tags/readers (France, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Spain); automatic weight crates (Ireland, Spain); milk tank weighers and milk meters (France, Greece, Romania, Spain). Between 10 and 15 farms in each large scale country have been recruited, and welfare assessments are being undertaken, alongside data recorded by the technologies. This will guide the selection of optimal technologies for managing welfare on small ruminant farms.