New balance In animal husbandry : Farewell address upon retiring as Professor of Animals and Society at Wageningen University & Research on 21 November 2019

Abstract

to become a vet. At that time most farms were limited in size, quite often combining stock and arable farming, and whole families were involved in caring for the animals. Veterinary farm visits were predominantly for individual sick farm animals that represented high emotional and financial value to the farmer. However, due to a shift in the human animal relationship, the keeping and treatment of animals changed rapidly 17. The so called large animals became production animals and the small animals became companion animals. In my farewell address I would like to take you along the interesting world of the human animal relationship and the importance of resilience of animals and systems. Concluding I would like to look forward, how a new balance in animal husbandry with respect for humans, animals and the environment can be realised. Let us look at the developments in animal husbandry over the years Since the fifties, agriculture transformed in response to the increasing demand for ample food of constant quality, and affordable 43. The transformation was supported by incentive measures of the government, new breeding techniques, mechanisation and growing knowledge about diseases and better treatment. In the 70ties, farmers rapidly embraced new farm concepts that were more intensive and with higher production rates 2,16,43. Animals, their housing, nutrition and management, constantly adapted in order to cope with challenges of these new farm concepts. Increasingly farmers relied on cheap labour and technological tools to look after their herd 28 .