Agricultural News
Talking Animal Care and Handling With Temple Grandin
Thu, 16 Sep 2010 5:09:25 CDT
There was a tremendous amount of interest in the visit to Stillwater on Wednesday by an Icon in Animal Agriculture- Dr. Temple Grandin. Grandin spent the day on the campus of OSU- talked to several classes, was honored by a special luncheon and then spoke in Historic Gallagher Iba Arena to a crowd that was estimated at 3000 by OSU officials in their public safety department. Before her persentation on Wednesday afternoon, we sat down and did a one on one exclusive interview with this lady who has established the academic discipline known as Animal Well Being- and we talked about the OSU Professorship, the Movie made about her life by HBO- and the Emmys- as well as her perspectives over a lifetime of work as an animal scientist. Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear this exclusive conversation.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was the formal announcement of money being given to establish a professorship and hopefully a chair in Grandin's name. The Oklahoma Beef Council announced a $250,000 gift to Oklahoma State University's newly created endowed professorship in honor of Grandin.
Heather Buckmaster, Oklahoma Beef Council executive director, made the announcement.
"We are fortunate in Oklahoma to have visionary leaders at the Oklahoma Beef Council who recognized the importance of animal care and handling through science-based research," Buckmaster said. "As we begin fundraising for a professorship in the name of a woman who has meant so much to our industry, we the Oklahoma Beef Council, our board of directors and the 55,000 farming and ranching families OBC serves are very proud to announce our commitment of $250,000 for the Temple Grandin Endowed Professorship in Animal Behavior and Well-Being."
That $250,000 gift will be matched by the generosity of T. Boone Pickens' 2008 chair and professorship match as part of the $1 billion Branding Success campaign. The state legislature previously committed to matching Pickens' portion, resulting in a total impact of $750,000.
The Temple Grandin Endowed Professorship in Animal Behavior and Well-Being will be housed in OSU's department of animal science. The department is part of the university's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, comprised of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and two state agencies: the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.
The 40 minute seminar in Gallagher Iba was a combination of a look back at her career of involvement as an activist in animal care and animal well being- as well as her life with Autism and becoming an Autism activist. There were many "gems" that were heard during the afternoon but one that grabbed our attention- "a dog wagging its tail means they are happy- but a cow or horse swishing the tail does not mean the same thing." Dr. Grandin explained that's one of the signs you can tell that the animal is uncomfortable and that the person handling that critter needs to let them settle down.
Click here to jump over to our Podcast of the FULL audio presentation from Wednesday afternoon with Dr. Grandin in Gallagher Iba Arena.
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