Research
ISU Animal Behavior and Well-being laboratory
The Deptartment of Animal Science Animal Behavior Lab at ISU is a state of the art laboratory. The lab has color/black and white cameras that can connect to RECO-204 DVD units for continuous recording. LTDs allow for night vision and night recording. The Behavior Lab is based in Kildee Hall.
| The Department of Animal Science laboratory is capable of recording video and live observations. The work is aided by use of analytical programs on the computers. Ethovision is an automatic visual tracking program, capable of observing video extremely quickly. |
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Observer® V5 is a program that is used by a human observer to watch video and manually key in the behaviors observed. Both programs enable us to enter the data as we record it, and then perform simple statistical analyses immediately. To see an example of the video that the Deapartment of Animal Science Behavior Lab views utilizing this program, click here.
Observer® V5, Ethovision and the equipment that runs these programs were created by Noldus. Noldus provides equipment, technical service and support for the lab. More information about their products and services can be found at their website: http://www.noldus.com/site/nav10000 |
| The Onset Hobo Pro RH/Temp Data Logger, of which the lab owns six, is able to accurately measure temperatures from -30 to 70 degrees Celsius. Each unit is also able to measure relative humidity (RH) from 0% to 100% accurately. More information on these units can be found at the Onset webpage at:
http://www.1800loggers.com/ solutions/products/loggers/_
showloggerfamily.php5?lf=11 |
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In some research situations, it is advantageous to be able to measure the exact amount of water that is being consumed by the animals in the study. To meet this need, the Lab uses DLJ Hose Bibb Water Meters (find more information at www.watermeters.com). These accurately measure water usage down to 1/10 of a gallon, allowing valid recording of water usage in a particular animal. |
| Heart rate has been shown to be an important indicator of animal stress levels. To accurately measure heart rate, the lab uses Polar Heart Rate Monitors. These monitors have bee used successfully for research in humans, horses and pigs. The Lab will be using the monitors to greatly increase our understanding of animal responses to various situations. More information regarding the monitors and their use can be found on the Polar website at http://www.polarusa.com/
Please click here to view the graphs that the Department of Animal Science Lab researchers interpret to understand heart rate information. Please go to view, then rotate view and choose to rotate the image counterclockwise for best viewing of the graph. |
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To record the activities of animals during hours of dark, it is necessary to complement the use of our cameras with an additional light source. The difficulty of this is that such a light source must provide light to the camera, but not actually be bright enough to disturb the nocturnal activities of the animals being observed. To avoid this issue, the Lab uses Infrared LTD arrays. These units allow for complete observation of the animal without in any way disrupting its natural behaviors. |
| To record animal behaviors, thelab has the use of Panasonic WV-CP484 Day/Night Camera. These cameras are capable of recording in both color and black and white mode. Each camera is equipped to automatically stabilize the image in the event of wind or other jostling. Along with the Rainbow L308VCS camera lense, which is varifocal and also day/night capable for recording, the cameras are ready for any type of recording. More information at:
Panasonic WV-CP484 Camera
ISO/Rainbow CCTV |
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For continuous recording, the Lab utilizes Darium DVR-RECO 204 units. These are connected to our WV-CP484 cameras, and provide continuous recording using removable hard drives. The RCO units are also capable of playing and viewing the recorded video.
Darim RECO Information |
| Reference Manager is the data base for the Behavior lab. In the lab sits numerous filing cabinets full of various abstracts, magazine articles and conference narative proceedings that can be used for lit reviews, citations and writing papers. Reference Manager is the program used to enter the title, authors and subject for each document. When a paper needs to be written Reference Manager allows us to search by topic for various articles in our holdings.
RefMan |
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Dr. Johnson has a 50% research appointment. The chief goal of the research program has been to provide practical answers and tools that can be used on farms by producers, animal caretakers and veterinarians whereby they can provide optimal farm animal well-being and a safe nutritious product for the consumer, stay in business and be profitable. To support this goal Dr. Johnson has created a focused and vigorous research program on applied farm animal well-being science projects.
The three areas that she works on are:
1) Maintenance (feeding and drinking) behaviors of farm animals,
(2) Handling and system design for the finisher pig and,
(3) Sow productive lifetime.
Recent work on maintenance behaviors of farm animals
Topic: Alterations in the length of time and number of visits to a nipple cup drinker by seven week old pigs after water has been restored
Topic: Drinking behavior in nursery pigs: determining the accuracy between an automatic water meter versus human observers
Topic: A comparison of behavior of steers raised in hoop buildings or conventional feedlots
Recent work on handling and system design for the finisher pig
Topic: Effects of facility design on the stress response of market weight pigs during loading and unloading
Topic: Loading gantry versus traditional chute for the finisher pig: Effect on transportation and packing plant losses
Recent work on sow productive lifetime
Topic: Selection of gilts for longevity
