Which egg quality indicators should you track per house?

Which indicators should you track per house?

Track four numbers: the clean egg rate, the dirty egg rate, the cracked egg rate and the unverified egg rate. Each one is the count of that class divided by the total eggs from the same period and the same house. Because the Vigiovo record gives each egg a single class, the four counts add up to the total eggs measured.

Choose one calculation base and keep it in every report. The base can be all eggs received, including unverified ones, or only verified eggs. The choice changes how the rates read, so write the base in the report header.

The unverified rate deserves the same attention as the others. It does not measure egg quality. It measures the part of the line the system cannot judge: eggs cut by the edge of the image, overlapping or abnormally shaped. A jump in that rate usually means a camera position problem or too many eggs on the belt, not dirt on the farm.

How do you calculate the rates from per-egg records?

Each egg produces a record with its class, the scores, a readable reason and the raw measurements. To calculate, group the records by house and period and count the classes. The scores are not a defect rate: they look like probabilities but come from a fixed formula, so they do not belong in the calculation.

The house has to be part of your process, not only of the spreadsheet. The camera measures eggs, not houses, so the identification comes from your operation: record which house each batch came from and link that batch to the grading period. Without that link, a rate per house does not exist.

1. Separate the records by house and batch, using the identification recorded at collection.
2. Count each class for the period and divide by the total eggs in the same group.
3. Note the calculation base you chose and repeat it in every period.
4. Keep the daily rates, so you have the series that the trend analysis uses.

How do you use the trend to raise an alert?

A trend alert compares each house's day with its own recent history, not with a fixed number. When the rate leaves that house's usual range, the team investigates before the problem becomes routine.

The usual range is only stable with enough days of history. On a new line or a new house the alert is not reliable yet: record the numbers, but do not react to every swing. Look at the average of the last few days next to the day's value. One high day is usually a one-off, while a rise that holds needs investigation.

How do you use the indicators to find the cause before grading?

Dirt and cracks that reach grading were already there before it. So when a rate rises, compare the house with the variables the team controls: collection frequency, the condition of the collection belt, training of the people who collect, and the timing of batches. More frequent collection reduces the time an egg spends in the nest, where dirt starts.

A correlation is a clue, not proof. Change one variable at a time and watch the same house's rate in the following days. The table summarises where to start, with the practical reading of each pattern.

What do the indicators not show?

The cracked rate only counts what the camera sees on the shell. Hairline cracks do not show under normal light, so the rate reads the visible shell, not the total cracks in the batch. For those, candling or acoustic testing is still needed.

It also helps to remember what each class means. An egg is graded dirty when the stains cover 3% or more of the visible shell, and cracked when the total crack length reaches 0.8 of the egg radius. Those limits are system configuration values, tuned when your line is calibrated, so comparing rates only makes sense when the limits are the same.

Frequently asked questions

What dirty or cracked egg rate should a farm aim for?

There is no universal number to use as a target. The useful reference is the house's own history, with the same records and the same calculation base. A rate only tells you something when you know how it was calculated and compare it with the same house in the previous period.

Why track the dirty and cracked rates separately?

Because their destinations differ. A clean cracked egg with intact shell membranes goes to industrial processing as quickly as possible. A dirty cracked egg cannot be used to make egg products (RIISPOA, art. 227 and 228), so merging the two rates hides the problem.

How often should I review the indicators?

Read each house's day at the end of every shift, so you can act quickly. Review the series weekly to separate a passing swing from a real trend. The daily read shows what happened; the weekly read shows whether something has really changed.

Sources

1. Como o Vigiovo classifica ovos sem IA / How Vigiovo grades eggs without AI, Vigiovo
2. Decreto nº 9.013/2017 (RIISPOA), Presidência da República (Brasil)