This summer’s heat wave kills 1.19 million livestock… ‘second-generation broiler smart farm’ lowers barn temperature by 2℃

This summer was unusually hot. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration’s Open MET Data Portal, the number of heat-wave days nationwide this year reached 21.8 days(as of August 27). This counts days when the daily maximum temperature was 33℃ or higher. The number of tropical nights, when the nighttime minimum temperature does not fall below 25℃, also reached 25 days.

The heat went straight into livestock barns. According to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ summer supply-and-demand stabilization task force issued on the 19th, about 1.19 million pigs, poultry, and other livestock died in the latest heat wave. 

Heat is not the only problem. Yoo Dong-jo, director of the Livestock Life and Environment Department at the National Institute of Animal Science, said at a briefing on the 26th, “Although the rearing period is quite short at under 5 weeks, after about 3 weeks chickens breathe with coughs and phlegm due to ammonia gas and other factors,” adding, “If that becomes severe, it can lead to death.” Director Yoo explained that whether the issue is temperature or gas, it is already too late if action is taken only after conditions inside the barn have deteriorated.

This is where the demand for smart farms in the livestock sector comes from. Relying only on farmers’ experience and after-the-fact responses makes it difficult to cope with the scale of climate fluctuations. Among these efforts, a technology targeting broilers, where mortality damage is concentrated, has emerged.

The Rural Development Administration(Administrator Lee Seung-don) announced on the 27th that it has developed a ‘second-generation broiler smart farm’ that comprehensively uses feed intake and temperature·humidity data collected from barns for feeding and environmental management, and has completed on-site demonstrations. It was jointly developed with Chonnam National University and Emotion Co., Ltd. through the Smart Farm Multi-Ministry Package Innovative Technology Development Project.
 

Existing first-generation broiler smart farms focused on individual equipment that automated feed supply, water supply, ventilation, and the like, so there were limits to integrated data management. Adoption is also insufficient. The Rural Development Administration estimates that about 7% of roughly 18,000 farms raising chickens(layers·broilers) have introduced first-generation smart farms.

The second generation consists of △a mobile environmental management device that supports barn environment measurement and floor management △active ventilation control technology that predicts and controls the required ventilation volume △an integrated management system that manages environmental and feeding information on one screen. All effect figures released this time are values compared with the first generation.

The mobile environmental management device moves along ceiling rails in the barn, measures ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature·humidity at multiple points, and shows differences by location as a color distribution map. By adding a floor-management function that automatically spreads litter around drinking-water lines that are prone to becoming damp, ammonia emissions fell by 20.7%.

Active ventilation control is a preemptive response method that calculates the required ventilation volume in advance by reflecting outside weather, barn structure, insulation performance, and the chickens’ heat output. After application, the internal barn temperature during daytime in hot periods fell by 1.5~2.0℃, tunnel-fan operation decreased by 48.3%, and electricity use decreased by 35.2%.

The demonstration was conducted at a windowless modernized broiler house with a capacity of 54,000 birds in Namwon, North Jeolla Province. Of the two buildings, only one(30,000 birds) was equipped with the second-generation system and compared with the other building over the same period. Because broilers have a short rearing cycle of less than 5 weeks, side-by-side comparison with an adjacent building over the same period is less affected by variables such as season and chick placement timing than before-and-after comparisons at different times.

The comparison found that the production index rose 4.8% from 357 to 374.1, and the feed conversion ratio improved 3.4% from 1.47 to 1.42. The livability rate, the proportion of chickens that grew normally until shipment, also increased by 2 percentage points from 96.8% to 98.8%.
 

Economic feasibility depends on each farm’s starting point. Jang Gil-won, head of the Smart Livestock Environment Division at the National Institute of Animal Science, explained, “The economic effect of about 14.5 million won is when second-generation technology is additionally applied with first-generation facilities already in place,” adding, “When there is a first-generation system and only the second generation is added, we estimate initial costs at about 50 million won.” He continued, “If annual income of about 14.5 million won can be generated from an initial cost of 50 million won, it can be recovered within 5 years.” Jang suggested that applying a second-generation smart farm to a regular farm without first-generation equipment would cost about 80 million to 100 million won.

Some also questioned whether the results can be generalized, given that the demonstration was limited to one farm. Jang answered, “Rearing conditions and methods may differ from farm to farm,” and added, “We cannot conclude that improvement figures such as 5% or 2% apply uniformly to all farms, but we judge it to be a technology that can deliver improvement.”

Evidence for animal-welfare improvements remains limited. When asked whether disease incidence, mortality, stress indicators, and behavioral changes had been investigated, Jang said, “We have not yet examined details such as stress indices that closely,” adding, “For now, we investigated emissions of carbon dioxide and ammonia gas.”

The National Institute of Animal Science plans to add one demonstration farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, this year and distribute the technology to 8 farms through a new technology dissemination project in 2027. Farms will be selected after reviewing requests from cities and counties and assessing farm conditions and the farm owner’s willingness, with no self-payment required from farmers. Emotion Co., Ltd., the joint research company, will also carry out next year’s project. Overseas, one farm has been established in Kelantan, Malaysia, and is preparing to stock 30,000 birds.

The key is farmers’ choice. Director Yoo said, “The best thing would be for word to spread widely among farm owners that ‘we tried it and it was good,’ but it is not easy for them to readily put in the money,” adding, “To clearly show the effects, we believe there must be a lot of promotion and strong policy guidance.”