EU PiG – Pig temperature app for early disease detection

An app that monitors pig temperature is helping with the early detection of hyperthermia, enabling this Spanish farm to manage disease outbreaks, provide treatments more effectively, reduce mortality and improve pig welfare. It also has the potential to reduce the vaccination failure rate, as pigs with hyperthermia can have a compromised immune status.

Ambassador: Pep Peraire, Spain

Publication date: February 2020 

Theme: Health management

Challenges: Early warning of diseases and production errors

The farmer, Pep Peraire, bought a Flir One infrared thermographic camera, connected it to a compatible smartphone, and downloaded the Degree2act app, which monitors temperature patterns. Using Degree2act on a daily basis can help farmers reduce antibiotic treatment costs by up to 50% through early detection of disease and individual care.

Benefits

• This may result in a 25–30% reduction in the cost of antibiotics
• Mortality rates may be reduced by 20–25%
• Average daily gain (ADG) may increase by 10–15%
• This would then result in a 1.7% reduction in the production costs per kg of meat

Costs

• Costs of the camera vary from €250–500
• The price of a compatible smartphone will start at around €300 (currently validating CATS61 and Blackview PRO 9600 smartphones, equipped with Flir Lepton IR sensor, as well as Flir Ex-series camera. Please check the website for compatibility information)
• The app offers a one-month free trial. After this period, there is a cost of €49.99/€99.99 per year of subscription (2020 prices, subject to update)

Pep Peraire said:

"Our future depends on us taking better care of our animals.

"Detecting possible diseases at the beginning reduces contagion and allows more efficient treatment.

"Caring for animals is also taking care of all of us.”

Rectal thermometers are the most commonly used tool for detecting body temperature. However, this process involves the restraint of an animal which can often be stressful and result in a temperature increase.

The app has a traffic light detection system. A green light indicates that the detected temperature is within physiological range, an orange light indicates a slight increase in temperature, and a red light gives out a warning message which indicates that the detected temperature is high and comparable to that of a fever.

Early detection of hyperthermia allows the farmer to promptly manage disease outbreaks which is important with the ever-growing demand for a reduction in antibiotic usage.

To access more information about this best practice, contact RPIG (Spain): Emma Fàbrega

To access more information, contact RPIG (Belgium): Laurens Vandelannoote or EUPig@ahdb.org.uk

This project has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 727933.