There are few speakers one would want to listen to all day. Temple Grandin is one of them. She plunges into her topic, speaks forcefully, and is so knowledgeable that it’s mesmerizing to an interested audience.
The acknowledged international expert on livestock handling facilities visited the Western College of Veterinary Medicine Jan. 16 for a lecture on her favourite topic: understanding livestock behaviour.
Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and author of several books, the most recent of which are Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human.
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Her name is likely known to anyone even remotely interested in livestock handling. She speaks all over the world, has designed livestock facilities and protocols internationally and fashioned humane livestock handling facilities that McDonald’s now requires for its meat suppliers.
In her trademark western shirt and neck kerchief, Grandin told WCVM students about livestock and how they perceive their world.
She credits her autism with her ability to visualize in the same way that animals do, which enables her to design facilities that suit livestock production purposes.
“The animal world is a whole world of sensory based detail,” she told students. “What I want you to do is get away from language” and truly observe animal behaviour. Her slides and her entertaining lecture elaborated on that theme.
Grandin’s world renown led HBO to produce a movie about her life, simply titled Temple Grandin. It will air on HBO Feb. 6 with Claire Danes playing the title role.
Grandin consulted on the movie and on Saturday joked about the project. “It’s like a really, really weird time machine.”
In an interview with Meatingplace, a newsletter for the meat industry, HBO Films president Len Amato commented on the movie.
“Our film focuses on an amazing woman and the road she’s traveled during her lifetime,” he said. “The fact that she works in the meat industry was just one aspect of our story, but we took Temple’s lead in her belief that people are not going to stop eating meat anytime soon, so it’s our responsibility to treat livestock humanely.”
