An outspoken advocate for humane animal treatment, animal science professor Temple Grandin still teaches classes at Colorado State University and consults with livestock operations across the country. While she is best known for cleaning up slaughterhouses, lately she鈥檚 been focusing more of her attention to farms.
2015 was a big year for animal welfare advocates. a so-called 鈥渁g-gag鈥� law, which criminalized undercover recording of farms and ranches. Large companies, like Denver-based Leprino Foods, , while at the same time multiple farms in Colorado were . Animal agriculture has made strides to treat animals better, Grandin says, but some segments remain stubborn to change, and continue to use handling techniques she says can only be construed as animal abuse.
Interview Highlights With Temple Grandin
On Animal Welfare on Farms
"When I see a problem now, it's something that has to be fixed at the farm."
鈥淲hen I see a problem now, it鈥檚 something that has to be fixed at the farm. Somebody brings in an emaciated, half dead dairy cow. That just shouldn鈥檛 be there. Then there鈥檚 problems with just pushing animals too hard. So when I鈥檓 seeing a problem now, it鈥檚 something I鈥檓 going to have to fix outside the plant. And I think in raising animals, like a chicken, a laying hen for example, she鈥檚 been bred so much for egg production that you have very high levels of broken keel bones and osteoporosis. That鈥檚 pushing the system just too hard. You can push it too hard with genetics. And that would be the hen. Or with the dairy cows, that鈥檚 all genetics. Or you can push it too hard with a feed additive. We have to start looking at what鈥檚 the optimal thing to do, not the maximum thing to do.鈥�
On 鈥淔actory Farms鈥�
"I've been in big places that are really good. I've been in big places that are bad. It gets down to attitude of management."
鈥淭he survey data shows very clearly that consumers think big is bad. But what I鈥檝e found is badly managed is bad. The thing that鈥檚 kind of ironic is when we started doing those audits for McDonald鈥檚 and Wendy鈥檚, we got the big plants cleaned up before we got the little plants cleaned up. I鈥檝e been in big places that are really good. I鈥檝e been in big places that are bad. It gets down to attitude of management. You鈥檝e got to make sure you don鈥檛 over work and under staff.鈥�
On Undercover Activist Video Recordings
鈥淚鈥檝e got a saying, 鈥榟eat softens steel, and then I can bend it.鈥� And activist videos have been heat that has softened steel. Now, what I鈥檝e noticed on activist videos is the things that are showing up on them now are less bad. Now I鈥檝e been around since the 1970s, and before there were any little tiny video cameras, in the 80s and early 90s, I saw stuff that made those activist video look like training videos. When I was working on equipment installation in the 80s and early 90s, I saw horrendous stuff go on. Really horrendous stuff. Ten times worse than any recent activist video.鈥�
