Farm animals have been important actors in the transformations of medicine and the environment. The industrialization of livestock farming has had a huge impact on health and disease management, both in the barn and in the clinic. In order to understand the farm animals’ roles in these processes, we need to historicize them. This entails taking a closer look at various animals in their housing environments. Cowsheds, battery cages and pigsties were important laboratories for new health regimes. By analyzing what enters and exits these stables, we can gain insight into the material flows related to farm animals and their health management, revealing their influence on environmental health. These changes inside and outside the barns require to integrate (new) actors into the historicization of farm animals. Breeding companies, the pharmaceutical and food industries, agricultural engineers, feed mills, research stations and international organizations – to name just a few - have all "co-produced" animal health (and productivity) together with veterinarians, farmers, and the animals (Woods 2019). However, not only health, but also diseases were produced in the barn. Animal health therefore set out to combat the production diseases that resulted from the attempted industrialization of metabolism (Landecker 2023).
Recent research has focused on the consequences of intensified agriculture on food safety, consumer behaviour, and risk assessment for societies. Meat as a main product has been discussed in depth as well. However, little research has focused on the specific practices and materialities of producing “healthy” livestock and its impact on veterinary medicine, human medicine, and the environment. In particular, public health and preventive approaches to animal health have so far received marginal attention. This also applies to breeding hygiene, which had major consequences for changes in animal health. We also believe that the dream of a germ-free life and issues around biosecurity are important for the history of farm animals. The following questions will be at the core of our workshop: What counted as a healthy animal? What problems did veterinary medicine solve, and which new issues did it create? To what extent have changes in animal health and the industrialization of agriculture in the 20th century mutually shaped each other? Which actors were involved in producing ‘healthy’ animals? Where did their interests overlap, leading to cooperation or conflict? By broadening the scope beyond the risks of food production just for human health, we want to critically engage with the concept of One Health, which conceives of the health of humans, animals, plants and ecosystems as a singular complex. How can a historical perspective contribute to striving for More-than-One Health (Braverman 2023)?
The workshop is organized by the Chair for the History of Medicine at the University of Zürich, Prof. Dr. Flurin Condrau, and the Swiss National Science Foundation project “Farm Animals in the Anthropocene”. It will take place from 11th June to 13th June 2025 in Zürich, Switzerland and features a keynote by Hannah Landecker (University of California, Los Angeles). The aim is to publish the presented papers as a special issue in a high-ranking journal. Participants are asked to pre-circulate a paper of 15 pages (5’000 words) by 15th May 2025. Contributions that offer critical reflections on new archival materials, unusual sources and different methodological approaches are particularly welcome. We will cover the travel and accommodation costs of those presenting a paper at the conference. Please submit an abstract of 400 words explaining the research question, approach, and source base by 14th June 2024 to beat.baechi@uzh.ch.