Temple Grandin, North America's most influential advocate of humane livestock treatment, has spent her life developing stress-free facility designs and standards of humane management. In an environment of growing concern regarding large factory-farming practices, Grandin is a voice of reason explaining the benefits of keeping animals calm through every phase of their lives — benefits that include safer working conditions, higher yields of marketable meat, better-quality meat, and, of course, more humane conditions for the animals.
The first half of Humane Livestock Handling reviews the natural behavior and temperament of cattle. Working with the animals' natural instincts, Grandin describes low-stress methods for moving cattle on pastures, paddocks, and feedlot pens. Slow, controlled movement reduces stress and fear, resulting in calmer, healthier cattle. They eat better, are less likely to become sick, and do not run into fences and gates, injuring themselves and bruising the meat. Calm cattle are also far less likely to injure the humans working with them.
The second half of the book is packed with construction plans, diagrams and detailed designs for putting Grandin's ideas into practice. Featuring plans for everything from gate latches to chutes, corrals, and sorting pens for full-scale facilities, there are designs that can be used in both large and small operations. In fact, half of the cattle in North America are already handled in systems designed by Grandin, and the demand for humanely processed meat continues to grow.
Temple Grandin's systems are quickly becoming the industry-wide standard. No livestock operation, small or large, can afford to ignore Humane Livestock Handling.
Improve the day-to-day operation as well as the profitability of your farm by raising healthier, more contented animals. The benefits are great—for you and for your livestock.
Well-treated animals, free from fear and pain:
- Injure themselves less frequently, keeping bruised meat to a minimum.
- Stay healthier, reducing veterinary expenditures.
- Remain calm in most circumstances, keeping human handlers safer.
- Deliver higher yields of marketable meat.
- Answer consumer demand for humanely raised meat.
- Are an indispensable part of efficient, satisfying, ethically managed small farms.
Includes complete construction plans for facilities of every size:
- Handling systems for ranches
Chapter 1: Animal Perception
Chapter 2: Genetics and Learned Behavior
Chapter 3: From Pasture to Pen
Chapter 4: At the Handling Facility
Chapter 5: Humane Slaughter
Chapter 6: Planning and Designing
Chapter 7: Construction
Chapter 8: Ranch Layout Options and Details
Chapter 9: Gates, Latches, and Other Useful Things
Chapter 10: Feedlots and Beef Plants
If the animals on America's factory farms got together to award an Animal Nobel Peace Prize, they would surely give it to Temple Grandin. Who else has brought her combination of deep empathy and hard-headed engineering know-how to their lot? "Humane Livestock Handling" will make that know-how more widely available, and few things could do more to improve the lot of these animals. -Michael Pollan
Temple Grandin is the best-selling author of Animals in Translation and Thinking in Pictures. Grandin's humane livestock facility designs have been adopted all over the world, and she is a trusted advisor to several segments of the fast food industry. Her work has been featured on 20/20, Nature, 48 Hours, and The Today Show. Grandin is Assistant Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University.
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Distributor: Workman Publishing Company
Publication Date: 06-18-2008
Pages: 227
Measurements: 10.88in X 8.5in X .63in X 1.50lb
