The benefits of smart farming: broiler chicken welfare is indicated earlier and more accurately with automated measurements of flock behaviour

• Farmers need to see tangible benefits before investing in smart technology • We investigated the value of a smart camera system to broiler farmers • Smart camera data added to existing farm data resulted in the best predictions • Smart camera data predicted welfare outcomes in chicks only a few days old Smart farming technology has the potential to increase both efficiency and animal welfare. Despite these advantages, many livestock farmers are still reluctant to invest, citing uncertainty over return on investment. Demonstrating real benefits in practice is therefore essential for the new technologies to be widely adopted. This study aimed to determine whether smart camera technology can provide sufficient extra information about broiler chicken welfare to justify the extra investment involved. The study was carried out on farms on two continents with an emphasis on the welfare of very young chicks and to demonstrate the value of smart camera technology. Three outcome measures of broiler chicken health and welfare - mortality, hockburn and foot pad dermatitis – were predicted together with the key productivity measure of Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), both with and without information from the smart camera system (OpticFlock). The first analysis used standard data widely collected on commercial broiler farms – water use, body weight and feed:water ratio plus information from the smart camera system. The second analysis used the same data but left out all camera data. The third analysis used camera information alone. The results showed that the combination of smart camera data and standard measures of water use, feed:water ratio and weight gave earlier and more accurate prediction than either alone. The results show that a smart system can aid the detection and prediction of welfare problems, enabling farmers to proactively implement corrective measures and assess welfare throughout life.