Detection and Analysis of Sow Targets Based on Image Vision

In large-scale sow production, real-time detection and recognition of sows is a key step towards the application of precision livestock farming techniques. In the pig house, the overlap of railings, floors, and sows usually challenge the accuracy of sow target detection. In this paper, a non-contact machine vision method was used for sow targets perception in complex scenarios, and the number position of sows in the pen could be detected. Two multi-target sow detection and recognition models based on the deep learning algorithms of Mask-RCNN and UNet-Attention were developed, and the model parameters were tuned. A field experiment was carried out. The data-set obtained from the experiment was used for algorithm training and validation. It was found that the Mask-RCNN model showed a higher recognition rate than that of the UNet-Attention model, with a final recognition rate of 96.8% and complete object detection outlines. In the process of image segmentation, the area distribution of sows in the pens was analyzed. The position of the sow’s head in the pen and the pixel area value of the sow segmentation were analyzed. The feeding, drinking, and lying behaviors of the sow have been identified on the basis of image recognition. The results showed that the average daily lying time, standing time, feeding and drinking time of sows were 12.67 h(MSE 1.08), 11.33 h(MSE 1.08), 3.25 h(MSE 0.27) and 0.391 h(MSE 0.10), respectively. The proposed method in this paper could solve the problem of target perception of sows in complex scenes and would be a powerful tool for the recognition of sows.