Year Awarded 2020
FFAR award amount $232,063
Total award amount $232,063
Location Oxford, United Kingdom
Program SMART Broiler
Matching Funders McDonald’s Corporation, Munters and Tyson Foods
Grantee Institution University of Oxford
Existing methods for assessing animal welfare rely on human observation and subjective scoring, which can be inaccurate and time consuming. University of Oxford researchers are testing a novel camera/computer system, called OpticFlock, inside chicken houses to monitor bird behavior and alert producers to early signs of welfare issues, like foot pad lesions and lameness. This grant was awarded through our SMART Broiler research initiative.