New Shepherds of the Farm

New Shepherds of the Farm is the story of intrepid individuals who are transforming the North American animal farm.

Meet cattle whisperer Temple Grandin. Temple was the recent subject of a dramatized, Emmy award-winning movie, but even the best drama can’t replicate the experience of seeing her in person. Temple overcame autism to transform the male-dominated cattle industrial from a rough and tumble world into a more humane place for animals.

Jim Reynolds is one of a handful of dairy veterinarians working in the sun bleached world of California’s central valley. Hundreds of thousands of animal depend on his care. Jim was born on a dairy and has spent a lifetime taming down the rugged rodeo culture to replace it with a culture of compassion.

Did you know that pigs are smarter than dogs? Today, breeding sows live their entire lives in cages so small they can’t even turn around. Animal scientist Tina Widowski is designing a new kind of barn that’s practical for industry and comfortable for pigs.

Twenty-five years ago Gene Baur found an abandoned injured sheep at a stockyard. He rescued the sheep and reported the incident to authorities requesting an investigation into animal cruelty. Gene was told that prosecution was impossible because farm animals are excluded from most humane laws. Twenty-five years later Gene has rescued thousands of animals and has put new laws on the books in several states to protect farm animals from neglect and cruelty.

The livestock industry is growing around the world. As more countries develop economically traditional plant-based diets are replaced with animal-based diets. Unfortunately, the livestock business produces more global warming pollution than the world’s entire transportation industry. New Shepherds of the Farm is a beautiful, heartfelt film that looks at how animal farming is done today and considers the cost to the animals and the planet.

To purchase this film, contact the filmmaker directly:
white.kathya@gmail.com

Credits:
Producer/Director/Writer:
Kathy White

Books

Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds about Animals and Food
by Gene Baur

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
by Temple Grandin

The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals
by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
by Matthew Scully

About the Producer:
In addition to being writer, producer and director for New Shepherds of the Farm, Kathy White produced, wrote and directed the popular PBS series the Dinosaurs. She produced The KGB, the Computer and Me, about computer espionage, which aired on the PBS series NOVA. For the NOVA Death of a Star about astrophysics, White received the Red Ribbon from the American Film Festival. She was scriptwriter for First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe, which garnered awards from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation. White designed and directed the dramatic re-enactments for Ulysses S. Grant, a three-hour film for the American Experience history series on PBS.

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