The automatic monitoring of pigs water use by cameras

► We introduce an elegant way to monitor water use in a group of pigs in a farm pen. ► We show how water use of fattening pigs can be related to drink nipple visits. ► Automatic image processing techniques are employed to detect a drinker visit. ► Algorithms are presented to detect important body parts of a pig. ► Transfer function models are developed to estimate water use in a pig barn.