Precision feeding of sows. Feed for need.

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

There is no doubt that the coming years will represent several challenges for Norwegian agriculture. A shift towards more self-reliance within food production will be necessary. For Norwegian animal production, this means we have to utilize more of local resources and rely less on import. That also entails that we have to improve the efficiency of our production animals by minimising input and maximising output. However, in order to improve the efficiency of our production animals we need more accurate data on the nutritional needs of our animals, and in pig production one of the major hurdles is getting the necessary quantity of reliable and up-to-date data on sows feed intake and utilization. Feed trials is a good way of obtaining such data, but these trials are often costly, labour intensive, time consuming and may involve few animals. Automation of such data collection could provide us with trustworthy, relevant, timely and accessible data that we can use to optimize diet formulations, feeding strategies, improve farm management and make the production more efficient, professional and cost-effective, while also reducing the environmental impact with a lower greenhouse gas emissions from pigs.