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PRECISION LIVESTOCK FARMING IN BUFFALO SPECIES:
A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH FOR THE FUTURE
Ganadería de precisión en búfalos: un enfoque sostenible para el futuro
Gianluca Neglia1, Roberta Matera1, Alessio Cotticelli1, Angela Salzano1, Roberta Cimmino2, Giuseppe Campanile1
1 Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
2 Italian National Association of Buffalo Breeders, Caserta, Italy
*Corresponding e-mail: Neglia, Gianluca (neglia@unina.it).
cisión (PLF), reconocida como la herramienta más sostenible
para mejorar la sostenibilidad de las explotaciones agrícolas.
Puede denirse como “el seguimiento continuo, automatizado
y en tiempo real de la producción, la reproducción, la salud y el
bienestar mediante la aplicación de tecnologías avanzadas de
la información y la comunicación (TIC)”. En este nuevo concep-
to de granja, los animales, el medio ambiente, la maquinaria y
los procesos se convierten en “objetos de información” para
mejorar los datos; La gestión agrícola y los animales se denen
como sistemas CITD: son complejos, individualmente diferen-
tes, variables en el tiempo y dinámicos. Recientemente se han
aplicado varias tecnologías PLF a los búfalos, mejorando algu-
nos puntos críticos de la granja, como el ordeño, la nutrición, la
reproducción y el manejo. Esta breve reseña reporta algunas
experiencias realizadas en búfalos.
Palabras clave: Ganadería de precisión, sostenibilidad, búfa-
los.
INTRODUCTION
It is known that the world’s human population is actually
about 8 billion, and it is estimated to reach 8.5 billion in 2030
and 9.7 billion in 2050. This sharp increase will occur mainly in
developing countries, particularly Africa and Asia, where about
80% of the human population is distributed. This condition will
cause an increase in the global demand for food, to 70% higher
than in 2010 [1], for both plant and animal-derived food. One
of this scenario’s main limitations is the unavailability of fur-
ther arable land. Simultaneously, the world is encountering a
profound climate change [2] that is caused by the so-called
“global warming,” an increase of the global temperature that
is expected to be about 3.5–5.5°C in 2080 [3]. Production, re-
production, and sensibility to pathogens or dierent environ-
mental conditions are only some aspects that livestock will be
(and are) obliged to face. The world’s increasing demand for
ABSTRACT
The growth of the world population that will occur in the next 30
years will be responsible for an increase in animal-derived food
and proteins of animal origin. The livestock sector will be obliged
to face new challenges, such as the reduction of environmen-
tal impact, the improvement of animal-derived food quality and
safety, the reduction of antibiotics, and the increase in ecien-
cy. One of the strategies that could be adopted is Precision
Livestock Farming (PLF), recognized as the most sustainable
tool to improve farm sustainability. It can be dened as “the
continuous, automated, and real-time monitoring of production,
reproduction, health, and welfare through the application of ad-
vanced information and communication technologies (ICT)”. In
this new farm concept, animals, environment, machinery, and
processes become “information objects” to enhance data; farm
management and animals are dened as CITD systems: they
are Complex, Individually dierent, Time-variant, and Dynamic.
Several PLF technologies have been recently applied to buf-
falo species, improving some critical points of the farm, such
as milking, nutrition, reproduction, and management. This short
review reports some experiences carried out in bualo species.
Keywords: Precision livestock farming, sustainability, bua-
loes.
RESUMEN
El crecimiento de la población mundial que se producirá en
los próximos 30 años será responsable de un aumento de los
alimentos de origen animal y de las proteínas de origen ani-
mal. El sector ganadero se verá obligado a afrontar nuevos
retos, como la reducción del impacto ambiental, la mejora de
la calidad y seguridad de los alimentos de origen animal, la
reducción de antibióticos y el aumento de la eciencia. Una de
las estrategias que podrían adoptarse es la Ganadería de Pre-
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animal-derived food requires new strategies to increase farm
eciency and sustainability. The impact of livestock farming on
natural resources is under further pressure [4] from consumers,
who demand high-quality products, animal welfare, and trace-
ability information.
On the other hand, it is known that livestock is one of the
most demanding sectors in terms of resources for several rea-
sons, such as land use (for both grazing and feed production)
[5], water [6], and energy [7] consumption. Furthermore, it is
often accused of being one of the main ones responsible for en-
vironmental impact, for both poor manure management, main-
ly for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution [8], and greenhouse
(GHG) emissions: Livestock accounts for 30% of GHG emis-
sions of the agriculture sector, which is responsible for 14.0%
of world GHG [9]. This led to a new environmental awareness,
and animals are assumed to be a source of impact on the envi-
ronment and public health.
NEW CHALLENGES OF THE LIVESTOCK SECTOR
In this complex scenario, the livestock sector must face
new challenges: the reduction of environmental impact, the im-
provement of animal-derived food quality and safety, the reduc-
tion of antibiotics, and the increase of eciency in one health
view are some of these. Several solutions have been proposed
in this sense, such as cultured meat (for review, see [10]) and
edible insects [11]. The former has several advantages: it does
not require animals, is highly ecient (one billion burgers can
be produced from one biopsy in 45 days [12]), meets the favor
of vegetarians and vegans, and does not produce GHG. How-
ever, there are also some negative aspects: its production is
expensive, and growth factors and antibiotics are used during
production. Insects are considered one of the most sustainable
sources of nutrients because of their high protein, vitamins,
minerals, and unsaturated fatty acids content [13]. However,
one of the main limitations of entomophagy is from a cultural
point of view.
THE PRECISION LIVESTOCK FARMING (PLF)
Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) is recognized as the
most sustainable tool to improve these aspects [14]. It can be
dened as “the continuous, automated, and real-time monitor-
ing of production, reproduction, health, and welfare through the
application of advanced information and communication tech-
nologies (ICT)” [15]. The PLF approach includes many tech-
nologies that aim to utilize the vast amount of data that can
be collected daily on the farm and transform them into useful
information. Basically, Industry 4.0 is based on the utilization
of the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) to develop a new and
personalized production model: the IoHAT (Internet of Animal
Health Things) [16]. In this new farm concept, animals, environ-
ment, machinery, and processes become “information objects”
to enhance data farm management. One of the main dierenc-
es between the traditional approach and that performed by PLF
is the change in animal role. The latter has a central position in
PLF systems since it is the main responsible for the informa-
tion of the process. However, no animal is identical to another,
and the same animal has dierent responses and behaviors
according to its physiological or pathological condition.
Furthermore, it is more complicated than an electronic
system, and its response can be dierent, variable, and dynam-
ic based on dierent conditions. Indeed, in a PLF approach, the
animals are dened as CITD systems, where they are dened
as Complex, Individually dierent, Time-variant, and Dynamic
[15; 17]. The great revolution that derives from this vision of
the animal is that if, in the traditional vision, a group of animals
is considered as a “unicum”, through the PLF approach, the
same group is considered as a “set of individualities”, where
each individual contributes with its variability and dierences in
response to the average.
Sensors utilized in PLF can monitor animals, the envi-
ronment, and products. Several PLF technologies have been
recently applied to bualo species, improving some critical
points of the farm, such as milking, nutrition, reproduction, and
management.
BUFFALO SPECIES & PLF
The bualo (Bubalus bubalis) species is widespread
worldwide, particularly in developing countries. According to
FAO statistics [18], more than 203 million heads are actually
present, and about 98% of the total population is concentrated
in Asia. Only 0.2% of the world population is bred in Europe.
However, the majority of European bualoes are concentrated
in Italy, where bualo milk is almost totally utilized for mozza-
rella cheese production. Throughout the last 40 years, bualo
husbandry in Italy underwent a profound transformation, modi-
fying the farming conditions closer and closer to those of dairy
cows.
Furthermore, the physiological characteristics of the spe-
cies, such as seasonality, caused a completely dierent meth-
odological approach [19]. A hard work of selection has been
carried out: although the national average milk yield is 2,350
kg in 270 days [20], with fat and protein percentages of 7.72%
and 4.65%, respectively, it is not rare to nd farms with an av-
erage milk yield that exceeds 3,000 kg of milk/lactation. These
productive levels were achieved through proper selective crite-
ria, improvements in rationing schemes, environmental farming
conditions, and management in general. Therefore, a growing
interest is deserved in the application of several PLF technol-
ogies. Although their utilization is still limited, some interesting
experiences have been reported in several elds.
• Identication and localization systems are nowadays
considered indispensable for a correct management of
the herd [21]. The most commonly technologies used in
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the bualo are the radio frequency identication (RFID)
technology [22]. RFID sensors are usually located in the
rumen as boluses but can be also positioned as subcuta-
neous implants or ear tags and, as in cattle, sensors are
developed using full duplex (FDX) and half duplex (HDX)
technologies [23].
• Another eld in which PLF has been applied in bualo
is the genomic prediction [24]. The technique consists
in estimating the genetic value of thousands of markers
(single nucleotide polymorphism - snps) distributed in the
genetic heritage and associated with phenotypes of inter-
est [25; 26; 27]. In 2013 the sequencing and assembly of
the bualo genome was completed (GCF_000471725.1;
led on NCBI in November 2013) and a new chip of a
90K SNP genotyping assay was designed and validated
[28]. Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) associated with sev-
eral features have been studied in bualo, such as pro-
ductive traits and lactation [29-34] reproduction [29; 35],
welfare [36] and mastitis [37]. Through PLF technologies
the collection of phenotypes can be performed with high
precision and accuracy.
• Farm management can be improved in several ways.
Milking has been improved through both the application
of automated milking systems (AMS) and the adaptabil-
ity to machine milking. The latest generation of milking
robots is equipped with a digital camera and a laser tri-
angulation sensor, utilizing a 3-D time-of-ight (Time-of-
Flight-TOF) camera. Through AMS, animal welfare is in-
creased, together with number of milkings/day, milk yield
and milk quality [38-39]. The “milkability” has been study
to recognize the capability of animals to release milk and
identify those that can be adapted to machine milking
by using lactocorder [40]. Another robotic technology is
applied in calves: calf management can be improved
through automatic milk feeder integrated with a robotic
arm (Calf-rail®, Germany) for the administration of milk
replacer.
• Animal welfare can also be monitored through machine
vision and 3D vision for the simultaneous control of one
or more variables (body condition, dimensions, weight,
etc.). Through this approach it is possible to indirectly
and non-invasively evaluate the biometry of Mediterra-
nean bualo calves, to estimate their growth, using depth
cameras, as stereocamera or LIDAR [41-42] and to mea-
sure volume and weight of feed [43].
• Several Automated Estrus Detection (AED) technol-
ogies have been developed to monitor reproduction. A
common problem of these tools is that behavioral and
physiological changes are not typical of estrus: therefore,
the warnings supplied by the AED technologies needs to
be veried and conrmed through a gold standard (i.e.
progesterone or a clinic exam by vets). For reproduction
monitoring pedometers were used at the beginning of the
21st century [44] and sensitive telemetry devices (Heat
Watch®, DDX Inc, Colorado, USA) were tested in Brazil
[45]. Recently, also the infrared thermography (IRT) has
been applied to the reproductive management of bualo,
in both female [46] and male [47].
• The monitoring of health is probably one of the most im-
portant advantages of PLF. Some physiological behav-
iors (feeding, rumination, lying, and standing) have been
recently validated in bualoes through NEDAP monitor-
ing technology [48] and this can be used also for calving
management [49]. Similarly, an algorithm for locomotion
behavior by using 3-dimensional accelerometers (Rumi-
Watch®) with high level of accuracy [50]. The health of
the mammary gland has been largely studied, because of
the high incidence of subclinical intramammary infections
[51, 52]. For this reason, the SCC (Somatic Cell Count)
or SCS (Somatic Cell Score) that represents its log-trans-
formed value [53] is largely used to identify infections in
bualoes [52]. Furthermore, in the last couple of years,
also other techniques have been studied in bualo, such
as Dierential Somatic Cell Count (DSCC) [54, 55] to-
gether with the electric conductivity (EC) of milk [56] and
IRT [46].
• The environmental inuences were studied evaluating
the eects of the bioclimatic index THI (Temperature Hu-
midity index) on milk yield and characteristics. Several
studies suggested that bualoes are sensitive to heat
[57, 58] and cold [59]. stress, suggesting the importance
of this monitoring. Further environmental monitoring
were carried out regarding methane emissions through
Laser Methane Detector or LMD [60, 61] and pasture
management [62].
• Product quality is studied through Infrared Spectroscopy
(IRS), that allows the construction of prediction models
and the detection of phenotypic traits that are not easily
detectable, such as freezing point, pH, antioxidant power
of milk, mineral composition, as well as coagulation char-
acteristics, acidity and GHG emissions. Furthermore, the
presence of bualo milk in mixture with other milks can
also be performed [63].
CONCLUSIONS
The increase in sustainability is one of the main aims re-
quested by the livestock sector, including bualo. To this aim,
bualo species will be obliged to face new challenges in the
next few years, and this could occur only through the appli-
cation of new technologies in order to enhance the grade of
innovation. The PLF is probably the most applicable solution to
reach these aims, allowing real-time, continuous, and automat-
ed monitoring of the main processes of the farm (such as wel-
fare, health, production, and reproduction), the environment,
and the quality of the productions. Although few studies have
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been carried out in bualo in this eld, an increased interest
has been recently developed. One of the main problems that
must be faced is the need for more specic algorithms and pre-
diction models for this species; therefore, all these techniques
must be validated in bualo to obtain reliable results. For this
reason, further studies should be carried out in the future to
increase the knowledge in this eld.
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