“I want to make the conditions as good as possible for the millions of animals involved”

Using the transition to sustainable livestock farming to simultaneously make animals happier as well. That is what Vivian Witjes hopes to achieve through her research at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. She is exploring ways to measure the happiness of pigs and whether the circular animal feed we give pigs can contribute to their well-being.

Vivian Witjes’ favourite days at work start in the dressing room of the pig barn, where she pulls on coveralls and boots. As soon as she enters the barn, several pigs immediately come up to her. She brushes some straw from their rear ends and greets them by stroking their snouts or bellies. “They love being petted,” explains Witjes, whose doctoral research project centres on the happiness of pigs. “The best part is when we have some time to just chill together at the end of the day. Then the pigs become calmer and more curious. Sometimes they seem endlessly fascinated by a button on my shirt or a shoelace.

Her research is part of the Regio Deal Foodvalley programme, in which researchers collaborate with partners including livestock farmers and policymakers to work on the transition to a sustainable and healthy food system. Witjes participates specifically in the aspect involving the agricultural transition. “Due to climate change, we must make the livestock industry more sustainable. This presents an opportunity to improve animal well-being at the same time – for instance, in terms of group size, how the barn is designed and the way we provide food. But to do that, we first need to know what makes pigs happy.” Laughing, she adds: “Simply put, we want to find out how to really make a pig’s day.”

I measure happiness using a test developed by psychologists – it works on pigs, too

Don’t we already know when pigs are happy?

“Until now, scientific research has focused mainly on preventing stress and disease. We know, for example, that pigs’ pulse and respiration rates go up during transport and when farmers take away their piglets. That’s a stress response. Which is important information, but it would be nice if we looked at positive emotions as well. Right now, we don’t really know how to tell if a pig is truly happy.”

So how can you find out?

“We look for signs of happiness, such as particular chemicals in the blood or certain behaviours. Pigs are active and curious; they run, jump, spin around and play with toys. They also use their snouts to root around in search of food. I’m studying whether there is a link between this behaviour and the well-being of pigs. The same goes for the chemicals in their blood. By the way: I measure happiness using a test developed by psychologists, which has to do with whether a person is happy or depressed. It works on pigs, too.”

Do you think that pigs are happy in the current conditions on livestock farms?

“No, I don’t think they’re very happy. They are intelligent and need to experience variety in their living environment. An ant spends its whole day walking back and forth carrying sprigs of grass to the anthill, which is probably enough for an ant. Because they are highly intelligent, pigs need more variety and challenges in order to feel happy. Yet in the livestock industry, they are often kept on hard surfaces such as a concrete or poured epoxy floor, surrounded by bare walls. They have little room to move about and the toys available to them are often only mildly interesting because the pigs cannot manipulate or eat them.”

You are also studying whether sustainable livestock feed can contribute to happier pigs. What does that involve?

“I'm looking at how pigs respond to mealworms. They’re raised on waste from the production of human food – like breadcrumbs – which makes them sustainable. We hang a big barrel of mealworms above the pigsty and then, throughout the day, the mealworms fall out one by one. I'm studying whether this use of mealworms enriches the pigs’ living environment and has a positive effect on their happiness.”

I hope that we in the scientific community can contribute to a sustainable and animal-friendly livestock industry

It seems like the media and politicians are always talking about livestock farming. How do you feel about the fact that your research topic is getting so much attention?

“I'm excited and a little nervous. I hope that we in the scientific community can contribute to solutions for a sustainable and animal-friendly livestock industry. These two goals can be hard to combine. But I'm glad that society is paying more and more attention to animal welfare. My dream is that in the future, everyone in the world eats less meat, so that the animals – pigs, but other animals, too – can have a good quality of life. More research is needed to learn what exactly a ‘good life’ entails. How much indoor and outdoor space do the animals need? What is a comfortable substrate for them to lie on? What do they need to build good social bonds? And so on. We need to figure out what conditions make animals happy.”

Aren’t we running out of time to research this subject?

“There are some measures, like eating less meat, that we need to take right away. That will buy us enough time to study how to organise our food production with a smaller livestock population.”

Do you eat meat?

“No, I became a vegetarian at the age of ten and for the past several years, I’ve been vegan as well.”

And yet your research deals with livestock farming?

“I may not be part of the system as a consumer, but many other people are. I want to make the conditions in that system as good as possible for the millions of animals involved.”

Why did you choose to focus on pigs?

“During the research, these animals just stole my heart. They are incredibly intelligent, learn quickly and have unique personalities. One is calm, while another is hyper, and a third might prefer to snuggle all day. On top of that, they always surprise me by doing unexpected things. Suddenly they'll have figured out how to open a barn door or bite through something – stuff you never would have thought they could manage. Pigs are fantastic creatures.”

This is a story from: