Abstract
Animal facilities are increasing in size while the availability of skilled workers is decreasing, making it difficult for farm laborers to ensure the health and well-being of all animals under their care. Systems that apply technology to the animal system can not only improve animal care, but also give researchers and engineers an understanding of the animal’s use of the facilities. This insight can lead to new engineering designs. In addition, these systems create an individual data stream that can be used to create unique animal phenotypes. Radio Frequency Identification is used in many different applications including store inventory, timing of races, attendee tracking, toll roads, and animal identification. There are different types of RFID systems each has unique attributes that create advantages or challenges to different situations. Both active and passive systems will be discussed, along with the three common passive frequency ranges: low frequency, high frequency, and ultra-high frequency. The advantages and disadvantages to each of the frequency ranges determine which type of system should be used for a given application. Typical uses of RFID tags include animal population tracking and animal data base monitoring. RFID systems have also been used for monitoring of animal activities such as eating and drinking behavior. Placement of the antennae and strength of the antenna field is critical to behavior monitoring. The behavior data streams have been used to determine potential illness, heat tolerance, and potential social interactions.