The Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence is pleased to share these stories of success, highlighting various projects funded by the Center.
Visit this page often for details about the results of Center-funded research and projects as they are available.
What if animals could tell a farmer when something was wrong before it became a serious health problem?
That’s the goal behind DAT-AI-LAB, a new collaboration between University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) and AgriGates that is using artificial intelligence to better understand livestock behavior and improve animal care.
The Center for Poultry & Livestock Excellence (CPLE) has been a key supporter of this work, investing more than $200,000 over the past three years to help develop the technology and launch the laboratory.
The goal of DAT-AI-LAB is ambitious but practical: use technology to better understand animal behavior and provide farmers with new tools to improve animal health and welfare.
Every day, livestock producers rely on careful observation to monitor their animals. But as farms grow larger and labor becomes harder to find, it can be challenging to catch subtle changes that may signal illness or stress. AI technology can help fill that gap by continuously monitoring animals and identifying patterns that humans might miss.
The long-term vision is simple: give farmers better information, sooner. By turning animal behavior into actionable insights, DAT-AI-LAB could provide producers with powerful new tools to support healthier animals and more efficient operations.
Learn more at dat-ai-lab.com.
The Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence has designed a four-year marketing poster for sheep and goat producers that starts in 2025 and finishes in 2028.
The poster includes meat specifications for goats and lambs for ethnic and religious holidays, a breeding chart, and a photo detailing the various cuts of meat for goats and lambs.
Call the office at (717) 651-5920 or email us to get one to hang in your barn today!
The Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence awarded $6,000 to a project designed to improve biosecurity education offerings to young exhibitors not directly involved in the 4-H system, as well as expanding biosecurity education to a wider population across the Commonwealth.
A Flip-grid educational tool was created and used to target 99 youth across the Commonwealth.
View the final report here.
In an effort to assist Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry through HPAI, The Center for Poultry & Livestock Excellence offered a reimbursement program for on-road transport biosecurity equipment.
Any Pennsylvania business or support service of poultry, swine, lamb, goats and sheep who purchased On-Road Transport Biosecurity Equipment between January 1, 2022 and August 12, 2022, and could produce a paid receipt/invoice for the equipment, was eligible for reimbursement. Funds were awarded on a “first come first serve” basis and expired when the funding was exhausted or at noon on August 12, 2022, whichever came first.
To learn more about the program, please review the eligibility criteria and reimbursement form.
In February 2022, PA Poultry Farmers’ concerns grew regarding High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI). The disease is very easily spread and is currently impacting birds all around the Commonwealth, including wild birds, commercial production poultry barns, and small flock-backyard birds. There is no treatment to cure birds impacted by HPAI.
$50,000 was awarded to create and purchase advertisement space in public engaging news outlets, to inform the public of disease threats, how to respond, and where to learn more.
To learn more about HPAI, view the resources below:
$51,230 was awarded to Delaware Valley University to a project designed to better understand swine producers’ understanding and acceptance of biosecurity.
A survey was designed to assess conceptualizations of biosecurity risk. 129 producers and 46 biosecurity experts responded to the survey. Survey results were used to build an online risk assessment tool, which provides an easy entry for any type of swine producer to answer a few questions about their practices. In return, they learn their level of biosecurity risk. For any areas of high concern, feedback about how to mitigate risk is provided at the end of the survey.
To learn more about acceptance of biosecurity practices, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
$15,950.42 was awarded to a project designed to enhance awareness and compliance with biosecurity from non-farm neighbors and visitors to farms. Farmers want to protect their herds, flocks, families, employees, and neighboring farms. Education campaigns have provided farmers with access to publications for biosecurity protocols, signage and instructions of what to do.
The funds were awarded to Lancaster County Conservation District Ombudsman Programs.
To learn more about the campaign, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
$15,000 was awarded to a project aimed to unite PA sheep and goat producers to improve health, biosecurity, identification, safety, and quality.
The committee is ongoing, but has seen success through monthly newsletters, profitability webinars, and Quality Assurance training.
The funds were awarded to PennAg Industries Association.
The Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence awarded $2,750 to design 2022 Small Ruminant calendars to include marketing advice and best management practices.
250 calendars were distributed.
$18,835 was awarded to a project designed to utilize a mobile application to look at backyard birds around Coryza infected flocks and coryza negative flocks to determine the level of risk associated with backyard poultry.
The funds were awarded to University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine – New Bolton.
To learn more about the biosecurity risk associated with backyard poultry, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
$3,594.97 was awarded to a project aimed to investigate and determine how Coryza is spread, and how long it is able to survive in the environment outside of the chicken. The results will help to contribute to biosecurity risk assessments and changes that may be needed to stop the spread of the disease in Pennsylvania.
The funds were awarded to University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine – New Bolton.
To learn more about Coryza longevity objectives, methods and results, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
$20,000 was awarded to a project designed to work with poultry producers on a biosecurity template, which demonstrates the value biosecurity and BMPs have on farms’ return on investment.
The funds were awarded to Longenecker Hatchery.
To learn more about the biosecurity program objectives, methods and results, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
$88,281 was awarded to a project designed to work with poultry and feed companies for feed trials of hemp in animal diets, ultimately aimed at gaining approval from the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) for hemp use in livestock diets.
The funds were awarded jointly to Kreider Farms, The Wenger Group and Penn State.
To learn more about the feed trial objectives, methods and results, view the project’s full summary submitted upon completion.
In the Spring of 2020, the Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence offered a reimbursement program to poultry, swine, lamb, sheep and goat processors in an effort to help offset some costs related to increased need for personal protective equipment (PPE) resulting from COVID-19 concerns.
Review processor eligibility guidelines. Funds were awarded on a first come, first served basis.
On June 16, 2020, a total of $285,000 was awarded to 41 different business in 20 Pennsylvania counties. View the list of all entities receiving PPE reimbursement funds and the amounts allocated.
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