LEDUC, Alta. – Livestock producers need to embrace the new social media if they want to compete against animal rights activists for consumer trust, says a leading animal behaviour scientist.
Temple Grandin told the Alberta Sheep Symposium Oct. 24 that livestock producers need to enlist the help of a teenager, grab a video camera and post videos of their operation on sites such as YouTube to counteract messages from animal rights activists.
“The animal rights activists are putting out this stuff and it’s not pretty,” she said.
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For every video showing pigs squealing in a slaughter plant, viewers need to see how farmers raise their animals and show that they don’t spend their day beating livestock.
“You’ve got to start communicating with the younger generation.”
During a recent book tour, Grandin said few people younger than 40 turned out to the events. Younger people don’t get their information from newspapers, magazines and books, she said, but spend hours on the internet.
“You’ve got to start communication with the public.”
Video savvy
When producers post a video, the first 25 words of the description need to be loaded with key words such as livestock, animal rights and ranching.
Typing any of those key words into YouTube now will uncover animal rights videos with disturbing images of livestock and abuse.
Grandin also believes slaughter plants and feedlots need to stream video of their operations directly onto the internet to show that animals are raised and killed humanely.
Visitors will always find ways to sneak cell phones or cameras into slaughter plants and take sensational pictures of animal abuse. While bad operations need to be cleaned up, Grandin said those videos need to be balanced with videos showing humane slaughter and animal treatment.
“There is a collision between urban people and people on the farm. You’ve got to reach out to the public, especially the young people. The younger generation, I’m concerned about. The garbage that’s out there, and they believe it’s true.”
Grandin doesn’t know how readily meat packing plants will adopt her suggestion of streaming video, but added she was chastised on chat sites after previously suggesting it. Instead of finding ways to show animals in their plants are killed humanely, she said, management builds higher walls to prevent access.
“They need to get out from behind the stockade and make a YouTube video.”
Grandin also said every farm should develop a Facebook page or website showing off their farm. It’s the only way farmers will begin to communicate with younger people.
“They do everything online.”
