Special Livestock Treatment Techniques Unveiled
Trevor Phipps
It’s not every day when two different worlds, such as the cities of Woodland Park and Fort Collins, cross paths.
Many locals may not recognize the name. However, Grandin is very well-known in certain academic and animal behavior circles. In fact, the CSU professor is best known for her accomplishments in the world of animal behavior sciences. She has also been a pioneer in the field of helping educate those on the autism spectrum.
Grandin has made a big name for herself promoting the humane treatment of livestock. Grandin, 75, still works as a professor at CSU and teaches a class on animal behavior.
The video was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and was directed and produced by CSU alumni. The university believed it was a prime time, while everyone was locked down, to produce a film that focused on one of CSU’s most world-renowned professors.
The film interviews Grandin from her home in Fort Collins and has her tell her own story. Grandin grew up with autism herself in the 1950s and the film describes how her mom was persistent, and didn’t want to give up on her child who was nonverbal.
Grandin’s mother was determined to give her daughter a normal life and starting hiring special counselors to get her to learn how to read and write. She went on to earn college degrees and become a pioneer on how to educate those with autism.
At a young age, Grandin realized that she thought and learned differently than others. Once she started working with animals on a ranch, she realized that she thought visually in the same way as her four-legged friends.
She was then able to use her autism to come up with ways to better handle livestock during all of the necessary processes they go through. Through her life, Grandin has invented methods to more efficiently move cattle by streamlining processes and removing things that could scare or distract the animals.
She has authored more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior and books on the behavior of domestic animals and creating the best life for them. Grandin has also written several books on autism, and how people who are on the spectrum learn differently than others.
Local Ranchers Praise Grandin’s Techniques
During the special documentary showing, Bob and Jessica Burton who manage the PBJ Cattle Company, made an appearance and spoke highly of Grandin’s livestock handling methods. The Burtons told the crowd that they implemented systems designed by Grandin and they have seen several positive changes.
“When I first heard of Grandin’s methods, I thought it was hogwash,” Bob Burton with PBJ Cattle said. “I thought we were going to spend a whole lot of money (hundreds of thousands of dollars) on this fence and it wasn’t really going to pan out and it was just going to be a really fancy fence. I was proven completely wrong.”
Burton said that they had an engineer that Grandin works with come out to the ranch. The engineer was on the phone with Grandin and he laid out in detail every bolt they had to put in.
The entire system was set up specifically for the ranch property based on details, like how the sun goes up and comes down and how the wind blows. “Our experience has been that since our ranch has grown, we can have a minimal amount of staff working cattle and we are all safe and the cattle are all safe and calm,” Burton said. “So, we can run through like 120 animals in a matter of four hours, give them all of their vaccinations, sort them out with what we need to do with them and then send them on their way and everybody is safe.”
Overall, Burton said that the new system doesn’t stress out the animals. Their new cattle system also helps keep staff safe. Burton, for example, noted that just one workman’s compensation claim can put a ranch out of business because they could lose their insurance.
Bob’s daughter, Jessica Burton, who works as a ranch manager for the PBJ Cattle Company, said she spent time studying Grandin’s work and has also been pleased with the results of implementing the new system. “It creates better animals and it creates happy animals,” Jessica Burton said. “Happy animals equals happy people, in my opinion. Happier and healthier food means healthier drawers.”
