Can natural behavior be cultivated? The farm as local human/animal culture

Segerdahl, Pär

doi:10.1007/s10806-006-9028-3

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…Instead, we propose that the interactions are better viewed as a human/animal culture (e.g. Segerdahl, 2007), with each farm developing its own particular culture as a result of interactions between humans, livestock and the farm buildings themselves. While 'culture' is not a new concept to many disciplines outside of animal welfare science, the failure of animal welfare sciences and social sciences to engage over the issue (noted above) means that a basic definition of culture may be required for some readers.…”

Section: Cowshed Cultures E Building a Cultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 This is further affected by any historical engagement with other farm cultures e e.g. the reading of each others' body language and utterances that leads to patterned responses that are specific to 'local farm cultures' (Segerdahl, 2007).…”

Section: Cowshed Cultures E Building a Cultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address the above issues we adopt Segerdahl's (2007) perspective of viewing individual farms as a culture and develop this idea further to examine the interaction between the material culture, human (stockperson) culture and animal 'culture' on dairy farms. This builds on and critiques the existing attitudinal theory and presents a more contextual view e conceiving of the behaviour of stockpeople not as solely based on cognition/knowledge, but developing through being part of a wider farm culture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Burton

Peoples

Cooper

2012

Journal of Rural Studies

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a b s t r a c tImproving animal welfare is an important part of the development of the agricultural industry, particularly at a time when intensification and the encroachment of factory-style production systems is making the maintenance of human-animal relations increasingly difficult. Animal science deals with the issue of improving stockmanship by focusing on the relationships between attitudes and behaviour, under the premise that improved attitudes will lead to improved behaviour. From an analysis of 42 interviews with owners, sharemilkers and workers on dairy farms in New Zealand we present a different view, seeing behaviour instead as part of a self-reinforcing culture in which animals, humans and the physical structure all contribute to the development of farm specific ways of doing and being. We further suggest that changing one stockperson's attitude alone is insufficient to ensure a change in the culture as other actors e including animals and non-human actors e reinforce any existing culture that has developed, making both attitudinal and behavioural change difficult. We conclude by discussing the key importance of designing farm systems and structures that promote positive interactions between animals and humans and suggest that this, rather than simply promoting knowledge and attitudinal change, is likely to be the most effective way of maintaining stockmanship in the face of an industrialising agriculture.

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Section: Cowshed Cultures E Building a Cultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cowshed Cultures E Building a Cultural Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Burton

Peoples

Cooper

2012

Journal of Rural Studies

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“…As such, the principle of ecology refers to the integration of the animals (individually and as herds) into the whole agro-ecosystem and, on a larger scale, into the whole food system in ways allowing all elements to support each other. Segerdahl (2007) proposes that we understand farms as local human/animal cultures, and believes this will help us to decide how we can understand ''natural behavior,'' for example. Verhoog et al (2007) link this closely to the concept of integrity, which comprises ''the respect for the wholeness, harmony or identity of living entity.''…”

Section: Linking the Principle Of Ecology To Naturalnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concepts of Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Livestock Systems

Vaarst

Alrøe

2011

J Agric Environ Ethics

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In 2005, The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) developed four new ethical principles of organic agriculture to guide its future development: the principles of health, ecology, care, and fairness. The key distinctive concept of animal welfare in organic agriculture combines naturalness and human care, and can be linked meaningfully with these principles. In practice, a number of challenges are connected with making organic livestock systems work. These challenges are particularly dominant in immature agro-ecological systems, for example those that are characterized by industrialization and monoculture. Some of the current challenges are partly created by shortages of land and manure, which encourage zero-grazing and other confined systems. Other challenges are created in part by the conditions for farming and the way in which global food distribution systems are organized, e.g., how live animals are transported, how feed is traded and transported all over the globe, and the development of infrastructure and large herds. We find that the overall organic principles should be included when formulating guidelines for practical organic animal farming. This article explores how the special organic conceptions of animal welfare are related to the overall principles of organic agriculture. The aim is to identify potential routes for future development of organic livestock systems in different contexts and with reference to the specific understanding of animal welfare in organic agriculture. We include two contrasting cases represented by organic livestock systems in northwestern Europe and farming systems in tropical low-income countries; we use these cases to explore the widely different challenges of organic livestock systems in different parts of the world.

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“…What do we mean when we say that in the context of animal husbandry for instance, animals should be treated in such a way as to permit them to behave naturally? As Segerdahl (2007) has argued, natural behavior of farm animals is not a ''biological'' concept, since from a biological point of view the animals' behavior has already been changed through domestication. Rather, naturalness is part of a normative ideal that favors animal-caretaker interactions as it emerges in traditional rural settings over the living conditions of domestic animals in the context of evidence-based production and intensive farming (''factory farms'').…”

Section: Food Consumption and The Quest For Natural Foodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotechnology and naturalness in the genomics era: plotting a timetable for the biotechnology debate

Zwart

2009

J Agric Environ Ethics

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Debates on the role of biotechnology in food production are beset with notorious ambiguities. This already applies to the term ''biotechnology'' itself. Does it refer to the use and modification of living organisms in general, or rather to a specific set of technologies developed quite recently in the form of bioengineering and genetic modification? No less ambiguous are discussions concerning the question to what extent biotechnology must be regarded as ''unnatural.'' In this article it will be argued that, in order to disentangle some of the ambiguities involved, we have to broaden the temporal horizon of the debate. Ideas about biotechniques and naturalness have evolved in various socio-historical contexts and their historical origins will determine to a considerable extent their actual meaning and use in contemporary deliberations. For this purpose, a comprehensive timetable is developed, beginning with the Neolithic revolution *10,000 years ago (resulting in the emergence of agriculture and the Common Human Pattern) up to the biotech revolution as it has evolved from the 1970s onwards-sometimes referred to as a second ''Genesis.'' The concept of nature that emerged in the context of the ''Common Human Pattern'' differs considerably from traditional philosophical concepts of nature (such as coined by Aristotle), as well as from the scientific view of nature conveyed by the contemporary life sciences. A clarification of these different historical backdrops will allow us to understand and elucidate the conceptual ambiguities that are at work in contemporary debates on biotechnology and the place of human beings in nature.

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Can natural behavior be cultivated? The farm as local human/animal culture

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Concepts of Animal Health and Welfare in Organic Livestock Systems

Biotechnology and naturalness in the genomics era: plotting a timetable for the biotechnology debate

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