A few weeks back, I re-watched ‘Temple Grandin’ (2010), a great movie about its namesake, an autistic woman, who despite the odds, entered the male-dominated American cattle industry of the 1970s and revolutionized it. Her autism allowed her to perceive feedlots—where animals are fattened for slaughter— in ways, according to her own reckoning, more akin to the cattle. As such she was able to redesign these livestock handling systems in such a way as to minimize fear and resistance.

I like the movie for its portrayal of raw ingenuity; she is able to address a problem that was previously not even recognized as one. She was able to see things afresh and make them better. It is of course satisfying when we are able to make small things better, but this was on a grand scale, an impact felt throughout the national cattle industry. It almost has that ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001) or ‘Limitless’ (2011) feel to it, the equations pouring down about the protagonist, an invisible world unlocked by genius.

My curiosity was piqued, so I began exploring the cattle industry. I started with a few of Temple Grandin’s lectures that are available on YouTube. Her talks, as you might expect, focus on her experience navigating the world as an autistic person and upon her work in the cattle industry. She describes herself as a strong visual thinker, which she connects to her ability to empathize with animals and understand their behavior on a fundamental level.

Grandin’s visual thinking gave her the ability to “walk through” and experience these feedlots like cattle. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled through them, seeing, hearing, and experiencing the feedlot’s narrow chutes from their perspective. This led to practical solutions that improved animal welfare, and most notably it led to her new designs, designs that are now widely utilized throughout the cattle industry.

In regard to her autism, she talks about the importance of early intervention, of identifying different cognitive styles, like visual thinking, and addressing them appropriately within an educational setting. Her example is inspiring, demonstrating as it does that by embracing one’s own unique cognitive style, it becomes possible to make distinctive, meaningful contributions. I too am a strong visual thinker, but over the years I’ve poured a great deal of effort into developing my writing skills, stretching that muscle. So that now, despite my dyslexia, I suspect that, thanks to being excessively educated, I’ve ended up in some of those rarified higher percentiles when it comes to my written communication abilities.

Also, I suspect that, like Grandin, I’m susceptible to going on hyper-focus rampages. When I do so, I barely think about anything else until I feel I’ve sufficiently exhausted the topic at hand. No doubt some undiagnosed ADHD on my part. But anyway, when it came to the cattle industry, I certainly did not feel that I had exhausted the topic. I then stumbled upon the BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) website, where I discovered a range of free online courses about best practices in the cattle industry. So of course, I signed up for the Feedyard BQA certificate.

This course is designed for feedyard workers, managers, and cattle producers (of which I am obviously none) to teach them about best practice when it comes to the health, safety, and welfare of cattle. Upon completion one will have demonstrated a commitment to cattle welfare and product quality. And I can now report that I am officially certified.

Now, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share some cattle-related factoids…

First, let’s cover bovine terminology: Bovine or cattle is the generic term for the species. A female bovine that has not yet given birth is called a heifer. Once she has given birth, she is called a cow. A male bovine is called a bull, and if he has been castrated, he is called a steer. The term “cow” is often used to refer to cattle in general, but this is technically improper usage. Note these linguistic particulars were not covered in the course.

Metal in feedlots is a big problem. It can come from many different places. But a common source is from the grain itself; when the grain is harvested, metal debris like old fence wire, nails, and shards of old machinery get incorporated into the grain. This can be combatted with the use of magnets; you might have magnets in mills, along conveyor belts, and on feed discharge points. Magnets are even put inside cattle, inserted into their first stomach (remember cattle have four, or four distinct compartments at least), there it becomes both sentinel and scavenger. The magnet will stay there for the cow’s life, and if they manage to consume only a modest diet of metal, this solution is sufficient - it will hold it all in place. But if the metal manages to puncture some internal tissues, then this will likely lead to what is called “hardware disease”, resulting in abscesses forming, severe pain, and if no treatment is possible, death.

The course covered some interesting details about cow behavior. Despite their size, these animals aren’t prone to flashy, emotional outbursts or histrionics. Instead, cows respond predictably to their environment, guided by body positioning. With one eye on each side of their head, their binocular vision is limited, and there’s a blind spot directly behind them. Handlers learn to work within a cow’s “flight zone”—the invisible boundary that, when crossed, prompts the animal to move away instinctively. In this way handlers can guide cows in a calmer and more controlled way without having to resort to force, be that shouting or using an electric prod.

When it is determined that the best course of action is to euthanize a cow, there are several factors to consider. Euthanization may be done with a firearm, captive bolt, or an injectable euthanasia drug. For reference a captive bolt is a device which fires a metal bolt at high speed into the skull of the animal, the bolt does not detach from the gun hence the word “captive”. In ‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007), the sadistic villain Anton Chigurh uses a captive bolt as his weapon of choice. The course recommends considering the aesthetics of the situation when it comes to the euthanization of a cow. For example even though a penetrating captive bolt is an effective tool for the job, it may cause significant involuntary movement of the animal, which may be misinterpreted as a voluntary pain response; as such a firearm or euthanasia drug may be preferable. On the other hand, when it comes to the disposal of carcasses (the regulations of which are state specific, but often euthanasia by way of drugs is more heavily regulated), in order to prevent the toxins in the animal running off into ground water or being scavenged, this often leaves you with the captive bolt, or the firearm as the preferable option. One would want to use at least a .38 caliber pistol; the gun is to be held perpendicular to the skull to avoid ricochets.

What else is worth telling you? The reason handlers deal with cattle first thing in the morning is due to the temperature-humidity index, for example in the Texas panhandle, where there is a high concentration of feedlots, on an average day in the summer months the temperature and humidity in the afternoons can cross into the danger zone, as such cattle handlers prioritize working with the animals during the cooler early hours, in order to reduce the risk of heat stress.

Vaccinations should be administered into the area behind the shoulder, certainly not into high priced cut areas, as lesions in the meat reduce customer satisfaction. It is also necessary to wait until after the withdrawal period after a vaccine has been administered before a cow can be slaughtered or “harvested”, in order to ensure the safety of the meat for human consumption.

Okay, time for dinner. A marbled New York strip, medium-rare with a nice char, paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon— nothing beats it.