Pigs and Music

From a Reuters news report out of Belgium:

Scientists in Belgium are investigating a farmer’s claim that different styles of music affect the behaviour of his pigs.

Piet Paesmans first noticed the phenomenon when his son started singing a tune in the barn during a sluggish insemination session his sows seemed excited and started wagging their tails.

“I thought this is too good to pass up, we should try that with the other pigs too,” Paesmans told Reuters from his farm halfway between Brussels and the Dutch border.

He has since created a playlist to coincide with different parts of the day, playing energetic music when he wants the pigs to be active and lullabies at the end of the day.

“Jolly dance songs are the biggest hits. They really start wagging their tails and when it’s really dynamic they even start dancing around and frolicking. Rock music is too strong, they don’t like it,” Paesmans said.

The farmer tipped off a team of researchers who have secured 75,000 euros ($76,770) of financing from an EU fund and the Belgian region of Flanders to investigate the claims.