Neural Network-Based Body Weight Prediction in Pelibuey Sheep through Biometric Measurements

Abstract

This paper presents an intelligent system for the dynamic estimation of sheep body weight (BW). The methodology used to estimate body weight is based on measuring seven biometric parameters: height at withers, rump height, body length, body diagonal length, total body length, semicircumference of the abdomen, and semicircumference of the girth. A biometric parameter acquisition system was developed using a Kinect as a sensor. The results were contrasted with measurements obtained manually with a flexometer. The comparison gives an average root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.91 and a mean R2 of 0.81. Subsequently, the parameters were used as input in a back-propagation artificial neural network. Performance tests were performed with different combinations to make the best choice of architecture. In this way, an intelligent body weight estimation system was obtained from biometric parameters, with a 5.8% RMSE in the weight estimations for the best architecture. This approach represents an innovative, feasible, and economical alternative to contribute to decision-making in livestock production systems.

Keywords

• small ruminants
• neural network
• weight estimation
• intelligent systems
• sheep
• biometric measurements