Autistic scientist talks of humane animal care

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Julie Tracy was upset when an animal rights group last summer criticized her autistic son’s 4-H program. In particular, the group didn’t want to see the lambs and pig raised by the club auctioned off for likely slaughter after they were to be shown at the Lake County Fair.

Tracy wondered what Temple Grandin — the autistic animal scientist whose story was told in an HBO Emmy-winning film — would say about the matter.

“So I picked up the phone and called her, leaving the story of the farm, our program and mission in the good hands of her answering service,” Tracy said. “To my great surprise and delight, Temple returned my call within the hour.”

Grandin, who was played by actress Claire Danes in the autobiographical movie, spoke to members of Glenview’s Clover 4-H Club last week, giving advice on the humane care of farm animals.

Wearing her trademark Western shirt and jeans, Grandin came to Wagner Farm to explain how to keep animals calm by observing how they react to their environment, from the swish of their tail to the whites of their eyes.

“I think it’s wonderful that kids can get out here and see farm animals, see a cow getting milked. We’ve got kids today that think milk comes out of a factory. We’ve got kids that don’t know that beef cattle normally live out on the range,” Grandin said afterward. “The 4-H kids are out here raising their lambs and their pigs, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Friends of Wagner Farm covered Grandin’s expenses to appear at the farm.

Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is responsible for the design of more than half the cattle feedlots and slaughterhouses in the U.S. Although autistic, Grandin used her talent as a visual thinker — actually crawling through chutes to get the animal’s perspective — to revolutionize the cattle and meat packing industries, which are still not convinced.

“People have a hard time getting their head around having the animals walk [through slaughterhouses] voluntarily,” she said. “Thirty-five years later, they’re taking the cleats off the ramp and they’re making them slicker. I’m constantly fighting them. I’m going back to plants and putting them back on. They’re making that same mistake. And the movie shows it absolutely perfect.

“I’ve worked all my life to reform agriculture,” she added later. “I’m not interested in getting rid of animal agriculture. I want to fix animal agriculture.”

Of the 4-H controversy, Grandin said people forget that everything dies. “It’s very important to give that lamb or that pig a good life while it’s here. That lamb or pig would never have existed if we had never bred it. That 4-H animal is living like royalty compared to a lot of other things,” she said. “Nature can be very harsh. There’s nothing nice about how wolves dine on live guts. A modern slaughterhouse is a lot nicer than that.”