PIGS & PROSPERITY ▶▶▶
Analysing pig talk A
recent scientific publication on pig vocalisation received widespread media attention. Sixteen prominent scientists from across Europe analysed more than 7,000 pig calls in different commercial farm con- texts. Let’s have a look at why this particular research is of interest.
There are always research studies being conducted, but often the results don’t get much attention beyond the scientific community. This changes when the results are of relevance or interest to society or industry, as is the case for the study by Dr Elodie Briefer and colleagues. Their work looks into the possibility of automated recognition of pigs’ emotional state, through pig vocalisations. Anyone who regularly spends time in a pig unit will soon recognise different vocalisations and in which context they occur. The sound of a squealing piglet when being crushed by the sow will (hopefully!) make any farmer run to save the piglet. Piglets squeal in many situations, but the specific sound when they are being lain on is very distinguishable. Recognising vocalisations thus clearly helps in farm management, as it provides information on what the animal experiences. This includes, as the research article says, information about their emotional state and therefore also about their welfare. While some sounds are distinctly different, others vary in subtle ways. Research 20 years ago had already shown that squeals during piglet castration are differ- ent from other piglet squeals, for example when being restrained. Although it seems that piglets squeal anyway, pain or no pain, sound analysis reveals that squeals differ and are much more intense (circa 99 dB) when piglets are castrated without local anaesthesia. New methods of analysing sound parameters make it possible to look into further details and to automate their recognition. The research article looks at different methods of classifying the sounds and how they can be interpreted in terms of emotions. A new aspect of the work is that they look at a wide variety of vocalisations across age groups and contexts, which is an important step towards making reliable detection possible in farm practice. One of the methods (a neural network using algorithms) showed high accuracy in recognising calls. This method seems to be suitable for developing an automated recognition sys- tem that can be used on farms to give an indication of animal welfare. If implemented as automatic detection on farm, it could provide detailed real-time information on pigs in every unit and warn of critical situations such as crushing or unrest. Some forms of sound analysis already exist to gain insight in animal welfare, such as simply monitoring dB levels in slaughterhouses and, more sophisticatedly, detection of pigs’ coughs to better manage respiratory diseases. With Briefer and colleagues’ research, such tools can hopefully be extended to include more variation, including negative as well as positive experiences.
Irene Camerlink Irene Camerlink is an interdisci- plinary researcher focusing on pig behaviour, welfare and pro- duction. She is attached to the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 4, 2022
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