Using a pig scream sound monitor to give an indication of the pigs' impaired welfare due to feed deprivation

Aspects of on-farm animal welfare could be automatically and continuously monitored trough sensor technology. Monitoring sounds produced in a pig house could potentially indicate situations of impaired animal welfare. The objective of this study was to investigate whether a 24-hour feed deprivation as a stressor can be detected by analysing the number of pig screams. A newly developed pig scream sound monitor was used to count the number of screams in one compartment containing 24 pigs. Two trials of 15 days were held, in which half the pigs were subjected to 24 hours feed deprivation. The number of detected screams were analysed with Friedman tests. The number of screams was higher during the night of feed deprivation compared to the other nights (p = 0.006). This indicates that monitoring of pig screams is promising to detect situations which impair animal welfare such as periods of hunger.status: publishe