Em Nau Farm BLOG

Inspiration

Last Sunday Heather and I were having a lunchbreak and, as normal, were watching “Landline” on the ABC.  One of the stories featured was on the animal behaviourist Dr Temple Grandin (http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2013/s3877703.htm).

I had never heard of Dr Grandin before this story but I must admit after watching it I have been busy on the interweb researching this amazing woman and watching countless clips of interviews she has conducted.

For those who don’t know about Dr Grandin –

-       Time magazine, has named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

-       When she speaks, America's biggest food companies listen, farmers listen. That is farmers from both America and Australia (and I suspect other places in the world).

-       She has influenced the construction of facilities for animals in this country, in the United States and throughout the world. Dr Grandin has also had an influence over the way we manage those animals.

-       She can see things from an animal's point of view due to her autism.  She is an advocate for both autism and animal treatment.

I could go on but it would take forever to do this women justice.  She is truly inspirational.  I think the cord that was struck in me was her approach to animal treatment – a statement that keeps coming up is “nature can be cruel but humans don’t need to be”.  Dr Grandin, in one clip I watched, spoke about the shute that leads the animal to slaughter.  She was standing just outside the stun room and asked the interviewer to listen .......... she then went on to say there was no mooing as the animals were not stressed or fearful due to the process of leading them to that room.  This is a simple concept but makes a huge difference in the way the animal ends its life. 

In another clip Temple spoke about pink slime”. She stood up for its use and made the statement “it would be a waste to throw it away or not use it as it would be a waste of the life of the cattle. (Pink slime is the common name for a controversial beef product. The name used in the meat industry is lean finely textured beef and boneless lean beef trimmings.  It is also known by the dysphemistic slang term soylent pink.  The product is used as a filler or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef)

I am truly inspired by this remarkable women.  When asked who, throughout history, I would want to have at a dinner party I used to say that at the top of my list would be Ned Kelly, Fred Hollows, Victor Chang, Joan of Arc and Harry Chapin.  I will now add Temple to that list.