On the Day of the Pig
01.03.2023
From the perspective of Gut Aiderbichl
(written by Gisela Pschenitschnig)
In Austria, about 3 million pigs are kept. For the mass of people, pigs are food. If you take a closer look at the fellow creature pig, you will learn a lot of interesting facts about their physiological and also psychological characteristics.
The cognitive abilities of the pig are in no way inferior to the primate
The majority of pigs lead a life in highly mechanized fattening farms. The emotions as well as the intelligence of the pig are in such places an absolutely unimportant side effect of the animal.
Pigs are also not dirty or smell bad. However, this only succeeds if they can lie in a generously littered straw bed. There is no straw on the fully slatted floors of pig farms. Here it stinks of foul-smelling digestive gases, the floors are slippery and: it is not at all about the welfare of the pig, but about its "meaty" rearing to fill the refrigerated shelves in the supermarkets after slaughter.
The smart pig wants to be more than a food product
Researchers asked themselves the question "How do pigs think? How do they organize their social environment? Can pigs learn? If so, how do they do it?".
From 2014 to 2022, a group of researchers from the Messerli Research Institute looked into the above questions. They got the solution from a 37-strong herd of Kune Kune pigs. The pigs from the "Clever Pig Lab" are now spending the rest of their lives in their new forever home at Gut Aiderbichl. The behavioral observation project could not be extended, and so the search was on for a new forever home for the large herd of pigs. For a few months now, they have been living on an outdoor farm at Gut Aiderbichl Henndorf in a spacious, species-appropriate pig house with an adjoining, extensive pasture.
The researchers observed that the Kune Kune pigs are anything but stupid. To talk about the stupid pig is a prejudice, which has also been successfully refuted by various scientific observations. Pigs observe humans and copy human behavior. They talk to us with the help of their 244 different oink sounds. Each "oink" has a meaning, which is also defined by higher or lower or quieter "oink" sounds.
My friend Susi
Susi has been living for some time on Gut Aiderbichl in Henndorf. She is a former fattening pig who had been left alone in the pig pen of the breeding barn. The hind legs were injured, the legs were inflamed and Susi was dehydrated. To the water or Futtetrough trough was impossible for her because of her injuries. not possible. One day Susi was discovered by a veterinarian in the barn: huddled, apathetic and in pain, he found the animal lying on its side. After recovery, Susi was taken to Gut Aiderbichl Henndorf.
In the meantime Susi recognizes me "without words". Does she hear my voice, stands she out of the straw bed on the sunny terrace.terrace to greet me with loud, joyful "Oinkrufen" to greet me. Her legs are so healthy again that she sometimes decides to greet me "with her head held high". For this purpose she poses in full life size in front of her enclosure fence on the top lath and waits until I am with her. am. Susi smiles the sweetest pig smile in the world. She loves to be scratched behind her ears and on her back. She also loves the silence, stands by the fence and enjoys it when I put my hand on her forehead and I am just with her.
In this sense - sincerely, your Gisela.
"Animals, just like us humans, have a central nervous system, and therefore also experience the world quite consciously. They can hear, smell, taste, feel and see, and perceive stimuli from the environment. Many animals can do these things even better than we humans can."
~ Albert Schweitzer
Relaxation with pigs
We at Gut Aiderbichl see ourselves as a meeting place between humans and animals. For companies, but also for private individuals, we therefore offer targeted relaxation, in the midst of our herd of Kune Kune pigs. During our "Feel Good with Kune Kune pigs", walk with us across the pigs' spacious meadow, meet pigs up close and from perhaps a completely new side, and get to know incomparable characters and personalities.
