The THIcare® application is the result of the TechCare project (Integration of innovative technologies for the improvement of the welfare management of small ruminants throughout their value chain) funded by the EU H2020 Program (Contract #862050; 2020-2025).
The objective of the project (Project – TechCare Project) is the development and validation of innovative precision livestock farming (GdP) tools for improving animal welfare through indicators based on the animal itself (IBA) and the use of early warning systems (EWS) that allow the rapid and objective identification of welfare problems. Its final objective is to allow its users to apply and evaluate the effects of environmental corrective measures in different systems and production stages throughout the value chain of small ruminants (meat sheep, dairy sheep and dairy goats, lambs and kids during breeding and fattening).
THIcare is a registered application that has been developed by the Ruminant Research Group (G2R) of the Department of Animal and Food Science of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, Bellaterra, ES) and the Telecommunications company SOSEIN S.A. (Seville, ES).
The application integrates the environmental measurements of temperature (T, ºC) and relative humidity (RH, %), external (weather station) and internal (8 sensors) of the farms, using the Thermohygrometric Index (THI) calculated with the equation of Mader et al. (2006): THI = 0.8·T + HR/100·(T – 14.41) + 46.4.
Indicators of Air Quality (AQI) in PM2.5 suspended particles (2 sensors) and Bed Quality by measuring water retention (8 sensors) have also been added.