Optimal Carrying Capacity - In Conversation With Dr Lindsay Whistance
In this episode we are joined by Dr Lindsay Whistance, Senior Livestock Researcher at the Organic Research Centre. Lindsay, who started her working life as a dairy herds-woman, comes to the conversation through the lens of animal welfare. The episode is an enlightening exploration of thoughts and ideas relating to optimal carrying capacity. It covers topics including the important partnership between humans and livestock which can be lost when animals are reduced to being just a tool, and the need for wider acknowledgement of animals' fundamental place in the ecology of a landscape, being critically important to ecological health. Lindsay touches on how we can provide for animal’s needs, farming in a way that allows animals to adopt natural behaviours, and approaches that can help balance the relationship between human, animal and environment. She also considers peoples different conceptions of "good animal welfare" and the challenges associated with focusing on health in the round. Show notes: Access the David Fraser paper and the poem by William Henry Davis that Lindsay mentions here: https://tinyurl.com/5dr8kv75.