The Grandin Papers: Over 50 Years of Research on Animal Behavior and Welfare that Improved the Livestock Industry

by Temple Grandin

Overview

"The Grandin Papers is a compilation of some of my most important scientific papers with an emphasis on livestock facility design, the development of animal welfare auditing programs, and behavior of cattle and horses during handling. They are in chronological order. I chose the papers and book chapters that would most likely be of interest to the general public, policymakers, and people interested in farm animal welfare and behavior. This anthology will show how my thinking has evolved over a fifty-year career.” —Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin is famous for her groundbreaking approach to decoding animal behavior. Her 50 + years of experience in observing animals shines through in The Grandin Papers. Dr. Grandin’s professional training as a scientist and her amazing life as a person with autism has given her a perspective like that of no other expert in the field of animal science. The Grandin Papers celebrate her storied career.

A professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, Dr. Grandin is also a designer of livestock handling facilities. The curved chute and race systems she has designed for cattle are in worldwide use, and her writings on the flight zone and other principles of grazing animal behavior have helped people to reduce stress on their animals during handling. She has also developed an extraordinarily successful objective scoring system for assessing the handling of cattle and pigs at meat plants. Other areas of research include:

• Cattle temperament
• Environmental enrichment for pigs
• Training procedures
• Horse perception of novel objects
• Effective stunning methods for cattle and pigs at meat plants
• And much more

Selected Awards:

• UniversityDistinguished Professor, Colorado State University- 2022
• Named top 10 Best College Professors in the U.S., CEO Magazine - 2020
• National Women's Hall of Fame - 2017
• The Distinguished Alumni Medallion, National 4-H Council - 2012
• Liberty Science Center Distinguished Humanitarian Award - 2011
• Inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame - 2010
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Highest Award - 2007
• Founder’s Award, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - 1999

Dr. Grandin is also a past member of the board of directors of the Autism Society of America. She lectures to parents and teachers throughout the U.S. on her experiences with autism, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, People, National Public Radio, and 20/20. She was one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year. The HBO movie based on her life, starring Claire Danes, received seven Emmy Awards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781957984292
Publisher:	Future Horizons, Inc.
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	500
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Temple Grandin earned her PhD in Animal Science from the University of Illinois and is currently a Professor at Colorado State University. Dr. Grandin is one of the most respected individuals with high-functioning autism in the world. She presents at conferences nationwide, helping thousands of parents and professionals understand how to help individuals with autism. She is the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in Translation (which spent many weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller List),The Autistic Brain, and The Loving Push, co-written with Debra Moore, PhD. One of the most celebrated — and effective — animal advocates on the planet, Dr. Grandin revolutionized animal movement systems and spearheaded reform of the quality of life for the world's agricultural animals. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Read an Excerpt

Observations of Cattle Behavior Applied to the Design of Cattle Handling Facilities

Originally published in Applied Animal Ethology, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1980), pp. 19-31

This was my first published scientific paper. It contains my hand drawn drawings of designs for cattle-handling facilities. It also contains my first flight zone diagram, which has slowly improved and evolved over the years. I was greatly inspired by the sheep handling work of Ron Kilgore in New Zealand. Jack Albright from Purdue Universityencouraged me to write this paper. This shows the importance of mentors in helping students get started in research.

ABSTRACT

Field observations were conducted while cattle were being handled in abattoirs, auction markets, yards on ranches, dipping vats and restraining chutes. Mature cattle and calves of many different breeds were observed under commercial conditions. A review of the literature and the observations indicated that cattle can be most efficiently handled in yards and races which have long narrow diagonal pens on a 60° angle. In yards designed by the author, cattle which are waiting to be sorted are held in a 33.5 m-wide curved race with an inside radius of 7.511 m. From the curved race, the animals can either be sorted into the diagonal pens, or they can be directed to the squeeze chute, dipping vat, or restraining chute at the abattoir.