Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Progress towards the development of an

integrated management system for broiler chicken
production
A.R. Frost a,*, D.J. Parsons a, K.F. Stacey a, A.P. Robertson a,
S.K. Welch a, D. Filmer b, A. Fothergill c
a
Silsoe Research Institute, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4HS, UK
b
David Filmer Ltd., Brent Knoll, Somerset TA9 4DT, UK
c
Formerly Premier Poultry, Foxhills Industrial Park, Scunthorpe DN15 8QW, UK
Received 3 July 2002; received in revised form 3 May 2003; accepted 15 May 2003

Abstract

Any livestock production system can be represented as a set of complex, variable,

interconnected processes each of which is under independent open-loop control. The solution
to the problems caused by this type of control is to introduce management systems in which
the controllers of the various processes are integrated so that the production system is
managed as a whole, with as many of the controllers as possible being closed loop, to counter
output drift, and incorporating process models to accommodate process inconsistency. Some
progress is being made in this direction for the case of broiler chicken production. This paper
describes research that was carried out as part of a programme of work that had the overall
aim of developing a prototype closed-loop, model-based, real time, system for the integrated
control of broiler growth and pollutant emissions. The part of the programme that is reported
here had the objectives of demonstrating the performance of a novel growth controller and of
simultaneously monitoring aerial pollutant emission responses to nutritional inputs.
# 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Livestock; Model-based control; Broilers

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: andy.frost@bbsrc.ac.uk (A.R. Frost).

0168-1699/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0168-1699(03)00082-6
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1. Introduction

1.1. Integrated livestock management system concepts

Livestock production systems no longer have the single objective of achieving an

acceptable economic performance. Increasingly they are having extra objectives
imposed on them such as maintaining improved standards of animal welfare and
reducing environmental impact. It is difficult to satisfy these multiple performance
criteria since livestock systems are sets of complex interconnected processes, each
with their own inputs and outputs. For example growth, health, welfare and
environmental emissions all depend on the animal’s supply of nutrients. It is,
therefore, not possible to manage growth by controlling nutrition without the
possibility of affecting health, welfare and emissions.
Traditionally, livestock management decisions have been based almost entirely on
the judgement and experience of the stockman who has to estimate or guess the likely
effects of any control action, taking into account the complexities of the processes
involved. This leads to dilemmas. A change of diet may increase growth rate, but will
the increased feed cost be justified, and will the change of diet make the animal too
fat? Increasing the ventilation rate in a building may improve air quality and so help
to prevent disease, but will the reduced temperature in the building affect feeding and
growth?
These dilemmas arise because currently each of the individual processes involved
in livestock production is controlled separately. For example, nutrition may be
controlled by the stockman according to some predetermined strategy; ventilation
and heating may be controlled so as to maintain the temperature within limits;
stocking density may be controlled according to welfare considerations. There are at
best weak connections between the various aspects of process management. These
connections need to be strengthened and formalised through the development of
integrated management systems, designed to control simultaneously more than one,
and ideally all, interrelated processes involved in livestock production.
Each of the various processes within a typical livestock production enterprise is
usually controlled by one or more open-loop control systems, each of which controls
only part of the overall process, and has limited consideration for the effects that it is
having on the other parts of the process. For example, in the case of rearing animals
for meat, the farm manager will usually apply a prescriptive nutritional regime which
has been designed in the expectation that it will produce the required result. In a well
managed enterprise, the nutritional regime will be based on some form of growth
model. However, there are many factors (e.g. disease, or unfavourable environment)
which may prevent the animals from achieving their potential, and growth targets
will be missed. This is a general problem with open-loop control systems; the output
is free to drift.
An additional complication is that the behaviour of many of the processes in
livestock production is variable. For example, two groups of genetically similar
animals, grown under similar conditions may grow at different rates. There may be
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many reasons for this, including inherent biological variability, the effects of
undetected sub-clinical disease or unknown differences in environmental conditions.
In summary, therefore, any livestock production system can be represented as a set
of complex, variable, interconnected processes each of which is under independent
open-loop control. The solution to the problems caused by this type of control is to
introduce management systems in which the controllers of the various processes are
integrated so that the production system is managed as a whole, with as many of the
controllers as possible being closed loop, to counter output drift, and incorporating
process models to accommodate process inconsistencies.
Some progress is being made in this direction for the case of broiler chicken
production. This paper describes research that was carried out as part of a
programme of work that had the overall aim of developing a prototype closed-
loop, model-based, real time, system for the integrated control of broiler growth and
pollutant emissions. The part of the programme that is reported here had the
objectives of demonstrating the performance of a novel growth controller and of
simultaneously monitoring aerial pollutant emission responses to nutritional inputs.

1.2. Broiler growth management

The aim of a broiler producer is to grow birds so that they meet one or more
production targets. Depending on business strategy, the objective may be to grow the
birds as quickly, or as cheaply as possible, or to ensure that they reach a given
market weight on a given date. In conventional practice, birds are usually fed
according to a nutrition schedule which is worked out in advance. For a bird at any
age there is an ideal daily intake of each nutrient, especially lysine, other amino acids
and lipids, to achieve the desired growth rate and body composition (protein/fat
ratio). Since feeding is usually ad libitum, the only way of attempting to control
nutrient intake is to vary the composition of the food. Usually this is done by
switching between different, fixed formulation, rations. Typically, three changes of
formulation will be used during the growth cycle. Ideally, diet composition should be
varied every day, rather than in these few step changes, because of the continuously
changing needs of the birds.
This facility is available in a system (described in more detail below) in which two
feeds with different compositions are held in separate silos and are mixed together in
the required proportions (Filmer, 2001). The birds are weighed automatically by
instrumented perches. The system, therefore, collects daily information on bird
growth and nutrient supply. If the manager detects significant deviations from the
planned growth curve he or she can take corrective action. The types of problem that
can cause birds to deviate from their planned growth curve include differences
between planned and actual food intake, disease, change in environmental
conditions and the feed not being of the assumed composition.
The difficulty with this approach is that the system relies on the poultry manager
to observe and interpret patterns or trends in the data and take corrective action.
Significant trends are often obscured by noise, due to biological variability or the
means of measurement, and may not be noticed until it is too late to take action. The
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correct course of action to take in order to remedy a problem is frequently not

evident, and may differ between managers.

1.3. Emissions from broiler farms

The new EU Directive 96/61 on integrated pollution prevention and control

(IPPC) will require large poultry sites to limit pollution emissions, and a permit to
operate may be conditional upon this. Estimates by Defra1 are that the Directive will
apply to some 540 poultry sites in England and Wales. The UN ECE Protocol on
nitrogen emissions to the atmosphere will, in all probability, similarly impact on
future broiler production. Techniques need to be identified and developed which
may be adopted in large-scale broiler production to minimise aerial pollutant
emissions, principally ammonia and dust, without compromising profitability or
welfare. Dietary control, or strategic feeding, has been identified as a technique
offering good overall prospects for abatement of ammonia from livestock produc-
tion (Phillips et al., 1998).

2. Objectives

The overall objective was to apply the techniques of model-based, real time
process control to the control of nutrition in a large scale livestock production
system for the first time.
The specific aims were to investigate the feasibility of controlling broiler growth
automatically by dietary manipulation and of measuring the resulting emissions of
aerial pollutants, in furtherance of the longer term aim of integrating emissions
control with growth control.

3. Experimental facilities

All of the experimental work was carried out using full-scale flocks of birds on a
commercial broiler farm. This approach was chosen in preference to the alternative
of using small numbers of birds under laboratory conditions because the intention
was to provide the basis for the development of a novel growth controller for
commercial use. Small groups of birds under closely controlled conditions may
behave differently in terms of their responses to nutritional and other inputs. They
may not be subjected to the spatial and temporal variations in environmental
conditions or the disease challenges that are present in a commercial broiler house.
There may also be an effect of group size on feeding and other behaviours.

1
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
 A.R. Frost et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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3.1. Experimental site

The broiler farm consisted of eight identical, modern houses, each measuring 21 m
wide, 91 m long and 4.6 m to the ridge. The buildings were of timber construction
with a concrete floor. Ventilation was by 22 ridge-mounted extraction fans and
sidewall inlets. Approximately 34 000 birds were raised in each house on approxi-
mately 4 t of fresh-laid litter that comprised pellets made from ground straw that had
been treated with sodium hydroxide to improve absorption. Management practice
can significantly affect bird growth and pollutant emissions. Standard management
practice was, therefore, maintained throughout the experimental work. The stocking
procedure was to place 1 day old chicks in all of the houses over a period of 1 or 2
days. The chicks were reared for about 42 days after which time they were removed
over a period of 1 or 2 days. The litter was then removed, the buildings were washed
and disinfected and fresh litter laid. The buildings were restocked with chicks within
a few days of the departure of the previous crop.

3.2. Monitoring emissions

Four of the houses were instrumented to monitor aerial emissions of ammonia,

dust and odour (Robertson et al., 2002). Air was drawn into sampling lines located
adjacent to four of the fan ducts in each of the four buildings. Ammonia
concentration in the air was measured by converting the ammonia into nitric oxide
which was fed to a chemiluminescence nitrogen oxides analyser which was calibrated
regularly. These measurements were made continuously throughout each trial.
Continuous measurements of ventilation rate were made using multi-blade impellor
type sensors installed into selected fan ducts. Gravimetric dust samples were also
collected at two locations in each house, at an average interval of about 10 days to
enable the inhalable and respirable fractions of the dust to be quantified for day and
night-time periods. At similar intervals, samples of air for odour analysis were
collected from a ridge extraction duct. The analysis was carried out using an
olfactometer and odour panel (CEN, 1999).

3.3. Feeding system

Each of the houses was fitted with a commercially available broiler nutrition
management system (Filmer, 2001). This consisted of a feed system capable of
supplying a blend of two feed components with differing compositions. The feed
system consisted of a 25 kg capacity batch weigher with a load cell positioned over a
250 kg capacity hopper. The two feed components were delivered to the weigher by
augers from separate silos. The augers were operated alternately to deliver small
quantities of each of the feed components to the feed weigher so that the resulting
mixture contained the required proportions of each component. When full the
weigher was emptied into the hopper from whence the mixed food was carried by
auger to feed pans. The birds could either be fed ad libitum, or to controlled
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quantities. Feed consumption was assumed to be equal to feed supply, as measured

by the feed weigher.
Each house was fitted with two bird weighers (Turner et al., 1984), each consisting
of a perch suspended about 50 mm above the floor via a load cell. The signal from
the load cell was recorded as representing the weight of a bird, provided that it was
within prescribed limits of the expected bird weight for the day. This procedure was
designed to prevent the weight being recorded if two or more birds were on the scale.
The weighers were automatically tared between weighings. The weighers were
calibrated at the start of each crop of birds, and once or twice during the growth
period. Weighing accuracy was generally found to be within 1%. Previous work had
shown that this weighing system produces about 500 bird weighings per day at the
start of the crop and about 100 per day towards the end.
In this original, commercial form the management system measured daily feed
intake and extrapolated forward by 1 day. A look up table of the daily nutrient
requirements of growing broilers, based on past experiments, was then used to
calculate the blend of the two components that would deliver the required nutrient
intake for that day.

4. The novel growth controller

The commercial broiler nutrition management system used on the experimental

site was a convenient base on which to build the prototype closed loop, model based
growth controller. The concept was that the model would be calibrated daily by the
measured intake and weight gain, and would be used to adjust the nutrient intake to
achieve the planned growth.

4.1. Growth model

For real-time control, fast operation must be balanced with the requirement for
accuracy, especially if that comes at the cost of complexity. To meet these
requirements a semi-mechanistic model based on published models and principles
was developed. The model is built on the well developed theoretical framework of
Emmans and others, which covers both growth and feed intake and leads to models
which simulate the response of animals to nutritional and environmental variables
(Emmans, 1981, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994; Emmans and Fisher, 1986; Hancock et al.,
1995). These ideas previously formed the basis of two computer models. The
Edinburgh Model used the earlier version of these ideas (Emmans, 1981). More
recently, G.C. Emmans, R.M. Gous and C. Fisher have developed a more up-to-date
commercial model, the EFG Broiler Growth Model. The present model is based on
the parts related to growth, but feed intake is measured by the system and
extrapolated on the basis of past performance rather than being predicted by the
model. The model calculated the growth rate from the intake of key nutrients: lysine
and effective energy (which was derived from protein, calorific energy, lipid and
organic matter intakes and nutrient digestibilities). Protein growth was limited by a
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potential protein growth curve, with ash and water allometrically related to protein.
Where there was excess protein in the diet, this was assumed to be deaminated and
excreted. The model also included the use of nutrients for feather production. There
was no attempt to predict ad lib intake, because intake data were available from the
feeding system. Predicting intake reliably has proved to be difficult in all livestock
models.

4.2. Growth model verification trials

A programme of eight trials was carried out to validate the growth model. A
variety of treatments was applied in which the birds were fed differing amounts of
protein or energy, and were, in some cases subjected to either step or smooth changes
in diet composition.
In the energy response trials, bird growth, feed intake and feed conversion ratio
were found to have been significantly modified by the treatments. This meant that
the results were highly suitable for the intended purpose of enabling the model to be
tested. In the protein response experiments the birds tended to compensate by
adjusting their intakes, so effectively reducing the range of protein intakes in the
treatments.
Applying a step change to an input is a common way of validating a model of a
process because it evokes all the dynamic responses of the process. However, the
response of the birds to step changes in diet was rather less useful than had been
hoped. It was found that step changes in some cases caused a depression in feed
intake which persisted for several days, regardless of the direction of the step change.
As a result of this and the compensatory intake in other trials the actual nutrient
intakes were not as planned. Nevertheless the trials provided good data sets for
testing the model over a wider range of conditions than will be encountered in
practice on the farm.
An example of the results is shown in Fig. 1a
/d. These were obtained without
using any parameter fitting; all the values in the model were taken directly from
other sources. It shows a comparison between the actual and modelled growth curve
for four houses of birds grown at the same time. It can be seen that agreement is very
good in one house, but that there was divergence from about day 20 in the other
houses. As discussed above, this was expected, and was the reason for including an
adaptation mechanism in the system.

4.3. Model adaptation

The adaptation mechanism is the optimisation of selected model parameters as the

crop grows. After testing several parameters singly and jointly, it was concluded that
the two parameters representing the utilisation efficiencies of energy and protein
were the most effective in adapting the model to the data. However, these two
interact strongly when weight is the only response variable being considered, so
attempting to optimise them simultaneously was unstable and produced extremely
unrealistic protein:lipid ratios in the simulated birds. Although more stable,
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Fig. 1. Example of the results from the growth model testing trials, obtained without using any parameter
fitting.

optimising either one of them also tended to produce unrealistic protein:lipid ratios.
It was, therefore, concluded that the best mechanism was to optimise them jointly,
that is to change both parameters by the same proportion, producing a stable one-
dimensional optimisation problem. Testing showed that prediction error could be
minimised by optimising its value each day to minimise the residual mean squared
errors (RMSE) in the predicted weights for the previous 14 days. During
development, the optimisation algorithm used was Shor’s method (Shor, 1985) to
enable multi-dimensional optimisations to be carried out. For the final implementa-
tion this was replaced by a direct linear search method over a bounded range (0.8
/
1.2). This has the advantage of complete stability, and speed is not an issue, as this is
much quicker than the optimisation required for control of future feeding.
For example, this single parameter was optimised for the complete data set for
each of the eight houses in crop 18, of which four are shown in Fig. 1. The range of
RMSE across the eight houses was 258
/11 927 g2 before optimisation and 237
/1178
g2 after. Fig. 2 illustrates how adaptation operates if applied on two dates */days 27
and 34 only. Each correction improves the prediction of the actual weights from that
date forward compared with the unadapted model or the one adapted on the
previous occasion. In fully automatic operation, this correction would be applied
each day.
 A.R. Frost et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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Fig. 2. Example of model adaptation applied to the trial shown in Fig. 1d by fitting parameters on days 27
and 34.

4.4. Controller operation

Fig. 3 is a diagram of the controller. The sequence of operations was as follows.

Each day the adaptation mechanism described above was applied to the model. It
was then used in its predictive control mode, in which the objective was to minimise
the RMS difference in the daily weights between the simulated response and the
target growth curve for the remainder of the growing period. Either one control
variable, the feed blending ratio (and hence the protein and energy contents), or two,
the total amount fed and the blending ratio could be used. In each case, the variable
actually used in the controller was the change from the previous day, because this

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of the controller.

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must always be kept within defined bounds to avoid severe step changes in the diet
fed.

4.5. Controller trials

A series of four trials was carried out to test the effectiveness of the controller. The
operating sequence was for data from the farm to be downloaded overnight, the
controller was run off-line on a computer at Silsoe during the morning, and the
resulting diet instructions were faxed to the farm for implementation by midday.
This procedure imposed a 24 h lag in the controller, and meant that the diet could
only be revised three times a week. This was unavoidable for operational reasons but
meant that the controller fell short of the ideal arrangement which would recalculate
the diet every day, and implement it without delay. Despite these limitations the
controller achieved promising results.
Fig. 4 shows some results from one of the trials which was designed to test the
ability of the new controller to grow birds to a target weight. For example, in House
3, pullets were grown under the control of the manager according to standard
practice. In House 5, pullets were grown using the new controller. Neither of the

Fig. 4. Example results from a trial to illustrate the ability of the new controller to grow birds to a target
weight. Houses 3 (pullets) and 4 (cockerels) were grown according to standard practice. Houses 5 (pullets)
and 6 (cockerels) were grown by the controller.
 A.R. Frost et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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houses achieved its target in this trial, but it can be seen that the performance of the
controller was comparable to that of the manager, which was a significant
achievement given the experience of the manager and the lack of experience with
the new controller.
It was clear from the trials that automatic growth control based on regulation of
diet composition is feasible. The quality of growth control that can be achieved will
depend on the extent to which feed intake can be predicted or controlled. Control of
intake would be the ideal. However, this strategy may not always be acceptable to
the grower, who may associate intake control with restriction of intake and growth
rate, which they would wish to avoid. Research is required to investigate this
supposed association. In the absence of intake control, the next best strategy is to
make intake as consistent as possible from 1 day to the next, because variability in
intake makes growth control more difficult.
Subsequent to the research project reported in this paper a further commercial
trial was conducted with the controller operating fully automatically, being adapted
and revising the feed blend each day. The Flockman system was operated in its
controlled feeding mode to minimise fluctuations in intake. There were four pairs of
houses with one of each pair using conventional feeding and the other using
automatic control. Commercial confidentiality precludes publication of detailed
results, but in summary the houses on automatic control produced 9 t more from 31 t
less feed at lower cost than the conventional system (Data supplied by David Filmer
Ltd.).

5. Emissions

Detailed emissions results from one trial have been reported previously
(Robertson et al., 2002). The ammonia concentrations in all four houses were
consistently below 15 ppm, and so were comfortably below the 20 ppm maximum
continuous exposure limit recommended for livestock by the Commission Inter-
nationale du Génie Rural (CIGR, 1992). Mean ammonia emission rates over the
crop life were in the range 1.8
/2.2 g/h per 500 kg (based on a mean bird weight of 1
kg over the crop duration). These rates are one-quarter to one-fifth of the rate
reported previously for broilers in the UK (Wathes, 1998). These results indicate that
modern practices are capable of achieving production at lower concentrations and
emissions of ammonia than were indicated by similar, relatively recent measurements
in older houses (Wathes et al., 1997).
A further example of the ammonia emissions results is shown in Fig. 5. These
relate to the same trial for which the growth results are shown in Fig. 1. Full analysis
of these results and those from the other trials is complex and will not be attempted
here. However, as an example, it is interesting to note that the pullets emitted more
ammonia than the cockerels. Coccidiosis, which is a commonly occurring disease of
the intestinal tract, was present during this trial. It was most evident in House 2 and
corresponded to reduced ammonia emission.
238 A.R. Frost et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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Fig. 5. Cumulative ammonia emissions for trial where pullets (Px) were in Houses 1 and 3, and cockerels
(Cx) in Houses 2 and 4. Houses 1 and 2 received diets with target protein intakes that changed from low to
high. Houses 3 and 4 received diets with target protein intakes that remained low. House 2 suffered a
pronounced coccidiosis outbreak.

Across all the trials conducted, dust concentrations averaged over 24 h were
typically around 5
/7 mg/m3 towards the end of the crop (when they tended to be
greatest). These dust measurements represent inhalable dust with particle sizes of up
to 20 mm. The respirable dust sub-fraction, with particle sizes of up to 7 mm, was also
measured and found to be approximately one order of magnitude smaller than the
inhalable fraction. Emissions of dust and odour are directly related to ventilation
rate and bird activity, and so increased with bird age. Similarly, they tended to be
higher during the summer than during the winter. Overall, dust emissions were at a
maximum towards the end of the crop and were in the range 1/2
/1 kg/h per house of
inhalable dust (the higher emissions arising in the hotter summer periods). This
corresponds to an emission of the order of 10 g per bird reared. Odour
concentrations peaked at 4000
/5000 odour units/m3, but were generally in the
range 1000
/3000 odour units/m3 beyond day 30. Odour emissions peaked at
100 000
/150 000 odour units/s but were more generally in the range 20 000
/40 000
odour units/s beyond day 30. The highest dust and odour levels across all the trials
corresponded with the most extreme diets (the lowest protein diets in the protein
trial, and the highest energy diets in the energy trial) because of the associated
unsettled behaviour of the birds.

6. Discussion and conclusions

The work reported here has proved the principle of real-time automatic control of
broiler nutrition. This is apparently the first time that this principle has been
demonstrated at commercial scale for any species of livestock. Conclusive proof of
the economic benefit of the new system will require extensive commercial trials, but
 A.R. Frost et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39 (2003) 227
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the provisional, qualitative conclusion that can be drawn is that the performance of
the automatic controller is comparable to that achieved by a human manager. It is
well established that the performance of human managers is very variable (although
these data are not published due to their sensitive nature), with some producing
consistently better results than others. The new controller has the potential to reduce
this variation and to raise overall standards of performance.
Unprecedented, commercial-scale trials have produced new appreciations and
data on the role of diet on aerial pollutant emissions. This work has demonstrated
the ability to quantify many of the factors involved in the production of emissions
and has provided indicators of the effects of some of these factors on levels of
emissions. However, further experimental work is required to develop causal
relationships between diet and emissions. In particular, the role of the litter must
be investigated in greater detail. Progress in these areas would lead to the
development of an integrated system that controls pollutant emissions as well as
bird growth.
More generally this work has provided several indicators for the direction of
future research. The longer term aim must be to control growth (or any other
appropriate production parameter) and emissions (or any other appropriate
environmental parameter) simultaneously for all farmed species, so that entire
production processes can be managed in a fully integrated way. This will require
further work to develop models for growth and emissions that take into account all
of the factors that affect these outputs on the commercial farm, and to incorporate
these models in process controllers.

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Defra (formerly MAFF) under the LINK Sustainable
Livestock Production Programme. Partners in the project were Silsoe Research
Institute, David Filmer Ltd, Stonefield Systems plc and Premier Poultry. C. Fisher
provided invaluable consultancy on poultry nutrition.

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