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People who eat meat are thinking more about the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and the effects on animal welfare. Researchers at a Wisconsin university hope a new augmented reality tool will give people working with livestock a better understanding of the cows they work with. Harvest Public Media's Hope Kirwan took a look at the new tech.
HOPE KIRWAN, BYLINE: Farmers and staff at meat processing plants want to keep cattle's stress levels low. That leads to better meat quality and milk production, and it's seen as the ethical way to care for livestock. But reducing stress requires understanding how cows see the world around them. That's according to Ashlynn Kirk from the Humane Handling Institute at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
ASHLYNN KIRK: When you are designing facilities for animals, you're trying to imagine how they would experience it. But it - really, you don't know unless you see it like they would.
KIRWAN: It's why the institute is now using an augmented reality tool to let producers see their facilities through a cow's eyes. I tried it out at the university's meat plant, putting on the black safety helmet. Kirk explains why it has a double-sided camera mounted to the front.
KIRK: So this camera allows you to see essentially 360 degrees around you, except there's - there will be a blind spot directly behind you, much like cattle have.
KIRWAN: I tighten the helmet...
(SOUNDBITE OF HELMET STRAP TIGHTENING)
KIRWAN: ...And pull the virtual reality goggles over my eyes. The screen comes to life, and all of a sudden, I've got cattle vision.
It's almost like seeing through a tube. Like, only what's right in front of me is what's in focus.
That's because a cow's eyes are on the sides of their head. Much of their extended field of vision is blurry because it's seen through one eye. They also see in shades of blue and yellow - what's called dichromatic vision. A red jacket or safety vest looks brown while wearing the goggles. Next, Kirk opens the door to the outside loading dock.
Wow. I cannot see anything at all. It is so bright.
KIRK: So it takes a little bit longer for cattle's eyes to adjust.
KIRWAN: It takes at least 15 seconds for the goggles to transition to the sunny day outside. All I can see is Kirk against a white sky. There's another lag moving back into the darker building. Agricultural engineer Benito Weise with Computer Output Management, a German software company, came up with the idea for the augmented reality program after years of trying to use pictures to show people how they were miscommunicating with their animals.
BENITO WEISE: Often, we make mistakes, and we don't understand - why does he stop here? Why doesn't he go on?
KIRWAN: In addition to cows, the German company has created augmented reality for other animals as well. Customers across Europe and the company in charge of meat production for McDonald's buy or rent the systems. Ron Gill, livestock extension specialist at Texas A&M University, says consumers are thinking more about the treatment of the animals they're eating.
RON GILL: So if we can manage the welfare of the cattle better with using these kind of technologies, I think it's a win for everybody.
KIRWAN: He says it requires building empathy for livestock and creating systems that make sense for their natural instincts. In Wisconsin, Kirk says the processing plant staff and farmers who have tried out the augmented reality tool leave with new ideas about how to do that.
KIRK: There's a lot of, like, oh, I've been doing this for a long time, but I never realized why it was like this - like, why cattle stop at a certain part.
KIRWAN: It might mean installing brighter lights to ease their transition from trailer to barn or simply changing the color of safety vests to make cattle feel more comfortable around the people handling them.
For NPR News, I'm Hope Kirwan in River Falls, Wisconsin.
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