By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University horse expert Camie Heleski has penned a chapter in a new textbook written by Temple Grandin.

Heleski coordinates MSU’s two-year Institute of Agricultural Technology Horse Management Program. In addition to working with students, she is involved in research projects. She studies how working animals – especially donkeys and horses – are cared for in developing countries. She also works with their owners and caretakers to teach them more humane training and husbandry practices to improve the animal’s welfare and length of life.

She has helped arrange several trips to Brazil with research teams to examine the conditions under which handlers and owners care for cart horses and donkeys. She also made two trips with a student to Bali, West Africa, to study the stress levels in donkeys as a reaction to different types of harnesses and driving methods. Heleski’s combined experiences factored into her expertise in writing about best practices including harness placement and treating wounds in Grandin’s book, “Improving Animal Welfare.”

Grandin is considered by some to be a world expert when designing livestock-handling equipment. Diagnosed with autism when she was three years old, she overcame the stigma associated with the disease, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s and doctorate degree in animal science. She is now internationally-known as a symbol for autism awareness and for her work in the livestock industry, transforming how producers and meat processing facilities handle livestock.

She has developed cattle loading and movement chutes to reduce animal stress and created a scoring system for handling cattle and pigs at meat processing plants. The livestock equipment Grandin designed is used by more than half of the slaughterhouse facilities in the United States and livestock facilities in more than 10 countries.

Heleski said Grandin’s approach to livestock handling helps producers understand the animal’s needs.

“She talks the language of the producers so they don’t find it scary or intimidating,” Heleski said. “Temple shows them that if they change their management practices for the welfare of the animal, ultimately the carcass quality is better, and the end result is more money in the producer’s pocket.”

With a shared passion for improving the living conditions of animals, Heleski said she and Grandin discussed the content of the chapter she wrote with one primary goal in mind.

“Speaking with Temple, she said she just wanted the book to be very, very practical,” Heleski said. “She wanted a veterinarian in a developing country to be able to pick it up and find that it contained applicable and useful information, such as a checklist of the most important concepts to animal care.

This is the approach Heleski took while writing her chapter for Grandin’s book.

“My main focus has been trying to make the owners more aware,” Heleski said. “If the owners do a better job of caring for their (work) animals, then the animal can work more hours and have a longer working life. In other words, their owners won’t have to spend money replacing the animals as frequently as they do now.”

In West Africa, Heleski said it costs the average rural farmer about one-third of his or her annual income to buy a donkey.

“If that one donkey can last for eight years instead of two, that’s a huge cost savings,” she said. “When you explain some of those economic realities to them, it starts to make more sense and they begin to realize why taking better care of their animals is important.”

Heleski said that improving living conditions for livestock in developing countries could also help families become more economically independent.

“In some countries, women spend a good portion of their days fetching water by hand,” Heleski said. “If the women could have a donkey to help them with their daily chores, their time is freed up to accomplish other things, such as taking goods to market to generate additional income.”

Improving Animal Welfare offers realistic suggestions for improving animal welfare. Chapters examine issues such as animal handling, transport, surgery and euthanasia.