Beschreibung
Due to hygienic and economic requirements, conventional pig farming requires largely isolated keeping in a low-stimulus environment without even coming close to meeting the needs of the undisputedly very intelligent animals. Inadequate husbandry conditions lead to a vicious circle of stress and ethopathies such as tail and ear biting, which then lead to illness and suffering. Surgical interventions on healthy animals, such as tail docking, conceal the result but do not eliminate the cause.
One solution strategy for keeping animals occupied in a low-stimulus environment is Environmental Enrichment in the form of sensory stimulation, which can consist of visual, tactile, or acoustic impressions, for example. This is the starting point of the present study, which aimed to investigate the effect of acoustic stimulation in more detail and to determine whether and which type of acoustic stimulation has the best effect on the desired behaviour of a pig population.
Weaned piglets were tested at 5 weeks of age, one week after weaning. They were presented with 3 other acoustic stimuli (radio, sound of the sea, forest sounds) and two pieces of classical music (Antonio Vivaldi - Summer 3rd movement; Pachelbel - Canon in D), each with 3 instrumentations (strings, brass, piano). The behaviour of the pigs was recorded for 5 days in a defined time interval in the morning, of which days 1 and 5 were without sound. The sonication took place on 3 days in randomised order. Each acoustic stimulus lasted 5 minutes with a subsequent pause of 2 minutes. Behavioural groups were created from individual behaviours using correlation analyses to group together similar and closely related behaviours. The duration and number of behaviours shown and their associated behaviour group were then evaluated.
During acoustic stimulation, significantly fewer negatively associated behaviour patterns such as fighting, mutual biting, mounting or belly sucking were shown. Music as acoustic stimulation performed better than the other acoustic stimuli. Quiet music performed better than lively music. Human voices, which could only be heard on the radio, particularly attracted the pigs' attention, and significantly stimulated them to listen.
As a result, it can be concluded that pigs prefer acoustic stimulation in the form of calm classical music and brass instruments. However, the effect of "modern" quiet music has not yet been sufficiently researched and requires further experiments. The fact that conditioned behaviour patterns and basic behaviours such as eating and sleeping were not noticeably influenced by music gives reason to assume that the basic needs of the pigs must be met to achieve a positive effect through acoustic stimulation.
