The Livestack Podcast

The Livestack Podcast / Episode 29 - Training That Sticks: How On-Farm Education Builds Better Welfare and Stronger Teams

In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds are joined by Dr. Michelle Schack, Dairy Veterinarian and Co-Founder of DairyKind, to explore how structured, consistent training on farms directly shapes animal welfare, team performance, and culture. Dr. Schack shares how her platform has delivered over 76,000 on-farm training sessions across the U.S., helping teams not only meet audit standards but understand the why behind every action. Together, the trio dives into the role of the veterinarian as an educator and culture-builder, the importance of timely and language-accessible training, and how digital learning tools can transform onboarding, retention, and long-term animal care. From castration and colostrum to carbon emissions and compassion, this conversation shows how a training-first approach can elevate animal welfare, boost job satisfaction, and create lasting value across the dairy supply chain. Guest: Dr. Michelle Schack, Co-Founder of DairyKind [https://www.dairykind.com] Hosts: Daniel Foy (AgriGates) & Dr. Jim Reynolds You can listen on Spotify and Apple Podcast

The LiveStack / Episode 28: Consciousness, Sentience, Ethics, and Money

Exploring the Hidden Forces Behind Animal Welfare Decisions In this thought-provoking episode of the LiveStack Podcast, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds explore the foundational, but often overlooked, forces that shape how we treat animals in agriculture. From the mysteries of consciousness to the evolution of ethical frameworks and the undeniable influence of money, this episode invites listeners to rethink how decisions get made on farms and in science. Jim reflects on the elusive nature of consciousness, how we still don’t fully understand it, yet it underpins everything we do, from human perception to animal behavior. He explains how sentience, the ability to feel, anticipate, and remember, applies not just to people but to cows, pigs, birds, and beyond. Daniel and Jim challenge the industry to recognize that animals aren’t machines reacting to stimuli but beings with emotional landscapes and expectations. They caution against building AI and precision livestock tools that ignore these deeper dimensions. Ethics is unpacked as the application of welfare knowledge, how individual, cultural, and societal values inform decisions about pain, comfort, and care. The conversation confronts the influence of short-term economics and production pressures that can lead to suffering, especially in heat stress, calf separation, and workforce challenges. With examples from swine housing, dairy operations, and the historical evolution of welfare practices, the episode underscores the need for new metrics, ones that measure consciousness and emotion, not just productivity. The conversation ends with a call to action: to rethink standards, train with intention, and build systems (including AI) that genuinely reflect what animals feel, not just what they produce. Make sure to also take a read of the associated blog on the AgriGates Website>News. Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcast

The LiveStack Podcast/Episode 27: Rethinking Animal Welfare – From Five Freedoms to Sentience

In this episode, Daniel Foy is joined by Dr. Jim Reynolds for a deep dive into the evolving understanding of animal welfare. The conversation starts with Jim’s recent trip to Africa, where he reflects on the profound respect he observed for animals and ecosystems, setting the tone for a discussion about the historical, ethical, and scientific shifts in animal welfare. The discussion centers around the 1965 Brambell Report, which laid the groundwork for the now-classic Five Freedoms of animal welfare. These freedoms, initially designed to frame the physical and mental needs of animals, are unpacked in the context of changing societal values and emerging science on animal consciousness. Jim explains how the language used then was intentionally broad to foster social change without triggering immediate backlash, and how the term “freedoms” subtly stood in for “rights.” The episode progresses to explore sentience as the cornerstone of modern welfare thinking: animals as beings with emotions, expectations, and inner lives. Jim and Daniel trace this paradigm shift through philosophy, neuroscience, and practical farming, highlighting how pain, fear, and contentment are not just physical responses but deeply emotional states. As the conversation turns to the future, Daniel and Jim emphasize the urgent need for better measurement tools in animal welfare, especially as farms move toward precision livestock systems. They call for metrics that go beyond visual audits and instead tap into the behavioral and emotional realities of animals, enabled by machine learning, AI, and sensor technology. The episode closes on a hopeful note: with respect for animals, smarter tools, and a new definition of welfare based on positive experiences, animal agriculture can align better with ethics, sustainability, and productivity. To learn more or share feedback, reach out at info@agrigates.io [info@agrigates.io]

The LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 26: Precision Behavior Measurement for Welfare and Sustainability

In the evolving landscape of food animal agriculture, measuring behavior is no longer just about observation, it’s about precision, scale, and measurable impact. In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds examine how behavior data has progressed from handwritten field notes to high-frequency, sensor-driven systems powered by machine learning. This transformation has redefined how we understand welfare, manage animals, and measure sustainability on farms. Jim and Daniel reflect on the early days of behavior measurement, where simple metrics like lying and standing time were manually recorded and used to make management decisions. Today, those same behaviors are captured by wearable IMU sensors, interpreted through automated video systems, and enriched with environmental and health data to provide a clearer picture of animal welfare. They discuss how behavior has become the most sensitive indicator of welfare, often signaling issues before they become visible, and how these insights are becoming increasingly vital as farms contend with heat stress, lameness, and other welfare risks under changing climate and production pressures. At the same time, the episode underscores the importance of ethics and human interpretation, even in a world of automation. Behavior doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and Jim emphasizes that good data still requires good questions and context. The conversation also explores how behavior metrics are now being tied to sustainability reporting, providing the kind of transparent, animal-centered evidence that supply chains and consumers increasingly expect. Whether you work in research, animal health, precision technology, or farm management, this episode offers an in-depth look at why behavioral sensing is becoming a central pillar of modern livestock care and food system sustainability. To learn more or share feedback, reach out at info@agrigates.io [info@agrigates.io] Listen now on Apple Podcasts | Spotify

The LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 25: Food Animal Welfare Data Collection for Audits – Past, Present, and Future

Before welfare became a scientific field and audit programs became standard, there was a time when farm assessments were built on instinct and good intentions rather than research and rigor. In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds return to the early 2000s to unpack the formation of the first on-farm food animal welfare audits in the United States. They revisit how environmental failures in the swine industry unexpectedly laid the groundwork for audit systems, and how the National Pork Board pioneered one of the first welfare audit frameworks, later known as Validus. Jim reflects on joining the audit development team as the lone veterinarian with a conscience many called controversial but whose insistence on standards like shade access reshaped the dairy industry’s approach to welfare. The conversation traces how these early audits evolved from a simple “walk-around and thumbs-up” into multi-metric systems with standards on shelter, water, space, and even animal behavior. Listeners will hear how progressive farms helped trial the early models, and how assessments transitioned into audits, with long-term impacts on today’s third-party welfare systems. The episode also looks ahead, with Jim highlighting the need for AI, video, and biometric monitoring to close the gap between annual inspections and real-time welfare risks especially during weather extremes. Whether you’re in animal health, ag-tech, or auditing, this episode offers critical insights into the roots of food animal welfare monitoring and what’s next. Topics covered include: * The surprising role of the National Pork Board in welfare audit development * Why early audits lacked science but sparked major shifts in practice * How shade, shelter, and calf housing became welfare flashpoints * Friction and collaboration in defining welfare metrics pre-2010 * The rise of Validus and the evolution into industry-wide programs * Why real-time data from AI tools is the future of meaningful audits * What Jim wishes he could go back and change in early programs To learn more or share feedback, reach out at info@agrigates.io. You can listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify