System and method for optimizing animal production based on empirical feedback

• US 20060041412A1
• Filed: 07/27/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Can Technologies, Inc. (Cargill Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Can Technologies, Inc. (Cargill Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cook, David A., Newcomb, Mark D., Messman, Michael A., Engelke, Gregory L., Burghardi, Steve R., McGoogan, Bruce Brim, Giesting, Donald W., Ligt, Jennifer L.G. van de
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/11
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 5/02 Automatic devices automatic identification devices for stock A01K11/006
• CPC Class Codes: A23K 10/00 Animal feeding-stuffs
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A system for generating optimized values for variable inputs to an animal production system. The system includes a simulator engine configured to receive a plurality of animal information inputs and generate a performance projection. At least one of the animal information inputs is designated as a variable input. The system further includes an enterprise supervisor engine configured to generate first and second optimized values for the at least one variable input. The first optimized value is generated based on an optimization criteria and the second optimized value is generated based on empirical feedback after application of the first variable input.

Claims

1. A system for generating optimized values for variable inputs to an animal production system, comprising:

a simulator engine configured to receive a plurality of animal information inputs and generate a performance projection, wherein at least one of the animal information inputs is designated as a variable input; and

an enterprise supervisor engine configured to generate first and second optimized values for the at least one variable input, wherein the first optimized value is generated based on an optimization criteria and the second optimized value is generated based on empirical feedback after application of the first variable input.

2. The system of claim 1, further including a formulator engine, the formulator engine configured to receive animal feed ingredient information and generate an animal feed formulation composed of the animal feed ingredients based on the performance projection.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the second optimized value includes comparing a projected effect of utilization of the first optimized value with empirical feedback for utilization of the first optimized value.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the simulator engine is configured to modify one or more performance models used to generate the performance projection based on comparing the projected effect of the first optimized value with the empirical feedback.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the variable input is one of an animal factor, an environmental factor, an animal feed formulation, and an economic factor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the enterprise supervisor engine is configured to actuate the simulator engine based upon variations in the variable input to generate a plurality of animal performance profiles.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the enterprise supervisor is further configured to select an optimized value for the at least one variable input based on a comparison between results of the empirical feedback and the plurality of animal performance profiles.

8. A method for determining optimized values for inputs to an animal production system, comprising:

receiving a plurality of animal information inputs, wherein at least one of the animal information inputs is designated as a variable input;

receiving a target output characteristic;

generating at least one performance projection based on the animal information inputs;

generating a first optimized value for the at least one variable input based on the at least one performance projection and at least one optimization criteria; and

generating a second optimized value for the at least one variable input based on empirical feedback following utilization of the first optimized value.

9. The method of claim 8, further including generating at least one animal feed formulation composed of animal feed ingredients based on the first optimized value.

10. The method of claim 9, further including modifying the at least one animal feed formulation based on a comparison of the performance projection and the empirical feedback.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a second optimized value for the at least one variable input includes providing an effect of modification to the at least one variable input.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the variable input is one of an animal factor, an environmental factor, an animal feed, and an economic factor.

13. The method of claim 8, further including modifying one or more models used to generate the performance projection based on a comparison of the performance projection and the empirical feedback.

14. The method of claim 13, further including generating a plurality of animal performance profiles based on variations in the at least one variable input.

15. The method of claim 14, further including selecting a preferred value for the at least one variable input based on the empirical feedback.

16. The method of claim 8, further including iteratively generating a plurality of animal performance profiles based on the first optimized value and selecting from the plurality of animal performance profiles based on the empirical feedback.

17. An animal production optimization system, comprising:

an optimization engine, having an objective function program therein, configured to receive empirical feedback; and

an animal production modeling system configured to

receive animal information input, including at least one variable input,

receive feed formulation input, and

provide at least one modeling output to the optimization engine, the modeling output including a value for the variable input,

wherein the optimization engine utilizes the objective function program to provide an optimized solution for the at least one variable input based on the modeling output and the empirical feedback.

18. The animal production optimization system of claim 17, further including a user interface configured to allow the designation, by a user, of one or more variable inputs.

19. The animal production optimization system of claim 17, further including a formulator engine configured to generate an animal feed formulation based on the empirical feedback.

20. The animal production optimization system of claim 17, wherein providing an optimized solution includes iteratively generating modeling output based on variations to the one or more variable input and selecting from the modeling output based on the empirical feedback.

21. The animal production optimization system of claim 17, wherein the variable input is one of an animal factor, an environmental factor, and an economic factor.