Feed Intake Recording Equipment (FIRE^®)

Purpose

The FIRE System automates the measurement of individual animal daily feed intake and other performance characteristics of growing animals and is the acknowledged standard for performance testing at commercial facilities and universities worldwide. Specific uses are:

• Evaluate genetic potential
• Measure individual animal performance
• Assess management practices
• Determine the performance of nutritional programs and products

FIRE System Components

• FIRE Feeder - ad libitum feeder that automatically records feed intake based on each animal's ID
• Protective Race - provides protection as individual animal visits the FIRE Feeder
• WinFIRE Software - software application which collects and organizes information from the FIRE System

Operation

• A FIRE Feeder in a Finishing barn pen accommodates 12 to 15 pigs
• Each animal is tagged with an Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag
• The FIRE Feeder recognizes an individual animal as it visits by its unique RFID
• The feed intake of each individual animal is recorded as it visits the FIRE Feeder
• When equipped with an ACCU-ARM Weigh Race, the individual weight of the animal is recorded as the animal visits the FIRE Feeder
• WinFIRE software maintains a database of information collected daily from the FIRE System for each individual animal

Types of Livestock

• Pigs
• Sheep
• Goats

Benefits

• Accurate Commercial Production Simulation
• Automates the measurement of individual feed intake and growth performance of growing animals
• Cost-effective performance testing of animals managed in groups
• Realistically reflects the performance found in commercial feeding
• More accurate than manual testing animals in single pens
• Eliminates data collection errors and operator bias
• Provides diagnostics for health and behavior not previously available by other methods

Arnold Ypma, Shade Oak Swine Limited, Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada "The FIRE® System has made it possible for us to collect a great amount of valuable information on boars produced at our nucleus farm. This has allowed us to make significant improvements in the feed efficiency of our terminal sire lines, improvements that enable our customers to be more profitable."

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