Flora von Steimker
Flora von Steimker studied organic agriculture at the University of Kassel-Witzenhausen for her Bachelor's degree and agricultural sciences at the Georg-August University of Göttingen for her Master's degree with a focus on resource management. The core topics of her studies were sustainable and species-appropriate livestock farming and marketing of agricultural products. In her Master's thesis, she investigated the feasibility of organic certification for sheep and goat husbandry in pastoral farming systems in northern Kenya. After successfully completing her studies, she worked as a consultant for pastoralist livestock farmers in 2021. Her interest in the "InnoRind" project and the desire to do a doctorate led her back to the University of Göttingen in April 2022. As a doctoral candidate and research assistant, she is working on the social acceptance of innovative husbandry and management measures in dairy and beef cattle farming.
Research focus:
- Social and agricultural perception of farm animals' emotions and needs
- Social acceptance of different housing systems for farm animals
- Dialogue-oriented citizen participation processes for shaping agriculture
- Perception of the conflict between wolves and livestock from the perspective of society and livestock owners
Research project:
"InnoRind"Innovation Network Cattle - sustainable cattle farming in Germany taking into account animal welfare, environmental impacts and social acceptance (InnoRind)
The aim of the InnoRind project is to establish a network for sustainable cattle farming and to use the expertise of the project participants to develop innovative approaches for sustainable dairy and beef cattle farming in Germany. These approaches are intended to increase animal welfare and reduce environmental pollution. At the same time, the labour situation of farms and the social acceptance of husbandry and management systems are to be included in the development of sustainable concepts.
As a project partner, the Georg-August University of Göttingen is investigating the social perspective on innovative husbandry and management measures in the areas of calf rearing and beef cattle rearing, among others, in order to incorporate them into the transformation process. First of all, the evaluation, importance and consideration of animal emotions in dairy farming from a social and agricultural perspective will be recorded through interviews and online surveys. A further field of research includes the acceptance and evaluation of different, innovative forms of housing for calves in the first weeks of life from the perspective of the population. In addition, the evaluation of animal welfare and the prioritisation of animal welfare goals in the case of conflicting goals of different housing systems in cattle fattening will be investigated from a social perspective. Furthermore, the aim is to develop and test a dialogue-oriented online citizen participation procedure for the design of future cattle farming, which can be transferred to other agricultural topics.
InnoHerd
In Lower Saxony, sheep play an important role in preserving the cultural landscape, for example by maintaining heathland and protecting dikes. However, the return of the wolf poses a major challenge to sheep farming. Many shepherds already protect their animals with high fences and dogs, but these measures are often time consuming and expensive, forcing farms to give up sheep farming. There are also regions where these protective measures are not possible.
In other parts of the world, such as South Africa, collars are used to protect livestock from predators. These respond to changes in the sheep's behaviour and emit ultrasonic sounds and light to scare off attackers. Following this example, shepherds and an electronics and software company are developing collars for sheep in Lower Saxony, Germany. The collars react to changes in the sheep's movement and emit signals to ward off predators. The aim is to provide a simpler and cheaper alternative to existing protection measures.
As a project partner, the University of Göttingen is investigating the social perception of flock protection and wolf management measures against the background of the ecological importance of sheep farming. On the other hand, the acceptance and willingness of the shepherds to use the developed system, as well as the factors influencing this, will be investigated in order to derive possible optimisation potentials.