Using RFID device select egg production in geese

　　The recording of individual geese egg-laying performance required cage-rearing management to distinguish the number of eggs laid by each goose. However, individual cage rearing is not feasible under commercial production scale and hence the egg production ability of a goose cannot be directly assessed from the individual egg-laying performance. Furthermore, egg-laying performance cannot be assessed on the basis of outer appearance or body weight. The precise management of floor-reared breeder geese egg production includes a combination of feeding management and egg-laying monitoring systems, and RFID tags which are small silicon chips with built-in radio technology and sensors. Complete records of pedigree information and egg production efficiency provides breeders with more accurate, more convenient, and real-time information and act as a system about the traceability for production information. Performance data of individual goose can be stored via an automated information storage device and be monitored for efficiency of pedigree improvement. It is useful to apply RFID technology of eliminating floor-reared geese with low or no egg-laying activities and establishing a paperless system for egg production pedigree selection. Such system can be served as a reference to commercial monitoring systems in the geese industry.

(S. C. Chang, M. J. Lin, S. C. Liao, S. W. Wu and Y. S. Jea)