Q: As a female student studying wildlife and range management, I want to thank you for paving the way for other female scientists who wish to study animals. How did sexism within the domestic animal industry and animal husbandry field affect your work (not being taken seriously, difficulty publishing your findings, etc.) How did you deal with the sexism you faced? –CURLYJACKSON

A: When I started in the early 1970s, the only women in the beef industry were working as secretaries in the office. I was the first woman in Arizona to handle cattle in the feedlot. The scene in the HBO movie where the bull testicles were left on my windshield actually happened. Being a woman in a man’s world was a much bigger issue than being autistic. There were some good people in the industry that recognized my abilities. I found it was much easier to sell them the equipment or design than it was to actually convince them to handle cattle calmly. I had to be twice as good as a man. It frustrated me that men could mess up a design project and still have a job. There were some good people that supported me and encouraged me to keep working. I learned I had to sell people my work. When I showed people my drawings of handling facility designs, they were impressed.

Q: As a professor, what would you say are the most effective teaching methods you've used? Also, is there a teaching technique or strategy you tried, but it failed to have the impact you desired? Thanks in advance. –sasmon

A: When I first started teaching, I presented some material that was too complicated, and I realized that I had to break it down into simpler parts so that all my students could understand. In the classroom, I like to avoid jargon and try to present information in a straightforward, simple manner. In my livestock handling class, I require the students to complete several types of assignments. Students are required to design a cattle handling facility, which [is] a visual, problem-solving. They are also required to conduct a research project where they are required to pick a narrow topic relating to animal behavior, and find two relevant abstracts from four separate scientific databases. The reason I pick a narrow subject is to require them to dig into the databases. The final in the class is a written essay-type exam. These varying types of assignments provide the opportunity for students to succeed in my class even if one type of assessment isn’t their favorite. I also believe that they should learn different fundamental skills that will serve them well in the real world. I hope that these varying exercises provide them exposure to these real-life problem solving skills.

Q: I want to ask you the same thing I ask every scientist: what's an interesting time you were completely wrong? –hapaxLegomina

A: A project I managed in 1980 is an example of something I did completely wrong. I installed a ramp with a conveyor floor to get pigs from stockyards to the third floor of a packing plant, because the pigs were not structurally sound enough to easily walk up the existing ramp on their own. I thought that installing a conveyor ramp would solve the problem. It was a failure. I learned not all problems can be fixed with engineering. For a fraction of the cost, we could have given the farm new breeding boars that could produce offspring that were structurally sound and would have been able to walk up the ramp. I learned that in solving problems, we must fix the root cause of the problem, and not just its symptoms.

Q: What improvements do you feel need to be made to the way we raise and slaughter our livestock? Is there any misinformation about the meat industry (at any level, from any side) you're particularly inclined to clear up? –Izawwlgood

A: I often encounter the idea that animal handling in the context of slaughter is automatically inhumane. This is one of the pieces of misinformation that I would like to clear up. Much of my career has been dedicated to implementing measurable standards for humane animal handling at the slaughterhouse. All U.S. federally inspected slaughterhouses are subject to government regulations as well as guidelines for humane handling that I helped author.

Q: I work in a small slaughterhouse. We butcher about six cows every week, so we don't have as much possibilities when it comes to redesigning, as industrial plants might have. What are some fundamental things we should do, or have installed, to make the process as easy and unstressfull for the animals? –esec_666

A: Often simple modifications, such as providing non-slip flooring in the stun box, can make huge differences. Cattle panic when they do not have secure footing. They also do not like to enter dark spaces, so you might experiment with placing a light at the entrance to the stun box. In one plant, the cattle were refusing to enter the stainless steel race with lots of reflections, and we experimented with moving ceiling lights. This caused the reflections to disappear and the cattle then willingly entered the race.

Q: How accurately did the HBO movie portray the way you see the world? I was particularly interested in the way it depicted the mental mapping of the animal's movements. Was this a device they chose to use or something you advised them about the way you see things? –rollinarmadillo

A: Many people ask about the HBO movie, and it accurately shows how my visual thinking works. The scene that showed all the shoes appearing in rapid succession is exactly how I think. The images that appear around animal movement are from my actual drawings and diagrams that appear in my early publications. The scene where I get down on my hands and knees in the chute is something that I actually did, so I could see what the cattle were seeing.  

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