Modeling and Forecasting Dead-on-Arrival in Broilers Using Time Series Methods: A Case Study from Thailand

Antibiotic-free (ABF) broiler production plays an important role in promoting sustainable and welfare-oriented poultry farming. However, this production system presents challenges, particularly an increased susceptibility to stress and mortality during transport. This study aimed to (i) analyze time series data on the monthly percentage of dead-on-arrival (%DOA) and (ii) compare the performance of various time series models. Data on %DOA from 127,578 broiler transport truckloads recorded between 2018 and 2024 were aggregated into monthly %DOA values. The data were then decomposed to identify trends and seasonal patterns. The time series models evaluated in this study included SARIMA, NNAR, TBATS, ETS, and XGBoost. These models were trained using data from January 2018 to December 2023, and their forecasting accuracy was evaluated on test data from January to December 2024. Model performance was assessed using multiple error metrics, including MAE, MAPE, MASE, and RMSE. The results revealed a distinct seasonal pattern in %DOA. Among the evaluated models, TBATS and ETS demonstrated the highest forecasting accuracy when applied to the test data, with MAPE values of 21.2% and 22.1%, respectively. These values were considerably lower than those of NNAR at 54.4% and XGBoost at 29.3%. Forecasts for %DOA in 2025 showed that SARIMA, TBATS, ETS, and XGBoost produced similar trends and patterns. This study demonstrated that time series forecasting can serve as a valuable decision-support tool in ABF broiler production. By facilitating proactive planning, these models can help reduce transport-related mortality, improve animal welfare, and enhance overall operational efficiency.