Development and Validation of an Energy Consumption Model for Animal Houses Achieving Precision Livestock Farming

SIMPLE SUMMARY: A customized thermal-dynamic model was developed in the present study based on the ISO13790 Standard to predict the energy consumption of poultry houses with indoor environment control. A validation test was performed in a layer house by applying sensors and meters to record the indoor environmental parameters including temperature, relative humidity, gas concentrations and energy consumption. The validation results indicated that the simulated environmental parameters agree well with the measured data showing a similar overall trend with limited discrepancies. Meanwhile, the difference in total energy consumption between the predicted and measured value was only about 10.6%, indicating the model was able to accurately estimate the energy demand during poultry farming. The proposed model enables farmers to quickly check and optimize their management strategies to achieve precision livestock farming from the energy consumption perspective. ABSTRACT: Indoor environmental control is usually applied in poultry farming to ensure optimum growth conditions for birds. However, these control methods represent a considerable share of total energy consumption, and the trend of applying new equipment in the future for precision livestock farming would further increase energy demand, resulting in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and management costs. Therefore, to ensure optimum efficiency of both energy use and livestock productivity, a customized hourly model was developed in the present study to interpret and analyze the electronically collected data. The modules for estimating indoor gas concentrations were incorporated into the present model, as this has not been properly considered in previous studies. A validation test was performed in a manure-belt layer house using sensors and meters to measure the indoor environmental parameters and energy consumption. The predicted results, including indoor temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide and ammonia concentrations, showed good agreement with the measured data, indicating a similar overall trend with acceptable discrepancies. Moreover, the corresponding differences between the measured and simulated energy consumption for heating, tunnel ventilation and base ventilation were 13.7, 7.5, and 0.1%, respectively. The total energy demand estimated by the model showed a limited discrepancy of approximately 10.6% compared with that measured in reality. Although human factors, including inspection, cleaning, vaccination, etc., were not included in the model, the validation results still suggested that the customized model was able to accurately predict the indoor environment and overall energy consumption during poultry farming. The validated model provides a tool for poultry producers to optimize production planning and management strategies, increase the production rate of unit energy consumption and achieve precision livestock farming from an energy consumption standpoint.