Acoustic Description of the Soundscape of a Real-Life Intensive Farm and Its Impact on Animal Welfare: A Preliminary Analysis of Farm Sounds and Bird Vocalisations

Abstract

Poultry meat is the world’s primary source of animal protein due to low cost and is widelyeaten at a global level. However, intensive production is required to supply the demand although itgenerates stress to animals and welfare problems, which have to be reduced or eradicated for thebetter health of birds. In this study, bird welfare is measured by certain indicators: CO2, temperature,humidity, weight, deaths, food, and water intake. Additionally, we approach an acoustic analysis ofbird vocalisations as a possible metric to add to the aforementioned parameters. For this purpose,an acoustic recording and analysis of an entire production cycle of an intensive broiler Ross 308 poultryfarm in the Mediterranean area was performed. The acoustic dataset generated was processed toobtain the Equivalent Level (Leq), the mean Peak Frequency (PF), and the PF variation,every 30 min.This acoustical analysis aims to evaluate the relation between traditional indicators (death, weight,and CO2) as well as acoustical metrics (equivalent level impact (Leq) and Peak Frequency) of acomplete intensive production cycle. As a result, relation between CO2and humidity versusLeqwas found, as well as decreases in vocalisation when the intake of food and water was large.