Of sheep and men and canine cyborgs

Before I arrived in New Zealand late last year, I found the NZ On Screen website to be a treasure-trove of Kiwi culture. I learned about the language they speak here, NZ’s fascinating history and the political and comic genius of Billy T., but mostly I’ve used it as a research tool. For example, The Sheep Collection brings together 16 titles about Kiwis and their “ovine kin.” Unfortunately, the site doesn’t offer video embedding, so you’ll have to follow the links below.

There are films that address the darkness of remote farm life and the comedic horrors of sheep run amok, as well as historical and contemporary documentaries on the significant role of sheep in Kiwi culture, the challenges of sheep farming, the bonds between shepherds and their dogs, the world of competitive sheep dog trials and sheep-shearing techniques.

But a true highlight for me was the second segment from the Country Calendar Spoofs Special, which features “Fleet” the radio-controlled sheep dog. In this doco-style video, we’re told that the “average working dog leaves a lot to be desired” and a “sheep dog is only as good as its master…Until now, that is. Modern science is on the threshold of making the trained working dog as defunct as the dodo.” Enter Dr Ross Duncan, an expert in neurosurgery and veterinary science, who implants 74 “very small, multi-functional electrodes” in a collie’s brain. Later, a hand-held radio transmitter is used to communicate commands back to the dog (through a receiver connected to the electrodes) in order to control its movement. Although it’s easily compared to a remote-controlled car, during field trials the scientist reminds the farmer to “take it slowly” and “watch the dog” because “it’s not a toy” and he “could pull a muscle” in the animal by jerking it back and forth too quickly.

[image credit: Country Calendar]

Ultimately, the scientist justifies the use and cost of the new technology in terms that sound eerily familiar today: “All we’re doing, really, is taking technology that’s now available to us and perfecting what farmers like Brian have been trying to do for years…” There’s a bunch of interesting things going on here in terms of human-animal-technology relations: science as superior knowledge, technology as prosthesis or extension, control over nature/animals, etc. And for anyone interested in design fiction and future technological scenarios, what also makes this video so fascinating is how plausibly or successfully it tells a story. Apparently, “the phones rang red hot” because the spoof was “just a little bit too real for some folk.”

Another interesting video also appears in the Country Calendar Spoofs Special. The third clip features Dominic and Brian, a couple of hairdressers-turned-farmers who bake bread and produce better wool by running a “stress-free” flock. We’re told that their “radical” process has tripled their wool receipts and brought them “a substantial grant from the Wool Board.” The pair had noticed the negative effects of stress on people’s hair during their salon days, and they claim it has the same effect on sheep wool. To calm their sheep, “respect their sensitivities” and improve wool quality, the couple take picnics with the flock, chant yoga-inspired mantras to herd them, jog with them to encourage fitness, transport them via trolley instead of dragging to increase comfort, play classical music through headphones for relaxation during shearing, leave a “protective layer of fleece” to keep the sheep warm, and take time for comforting, touch-based therapies like regular wool washing and styling.

[image credit: Country Calendar]

While the video is clearly meant to make fun of city-folks in general and gay men in particular, it also pokes fun at what kinds of research government and industry are seen to support. Although I am no fan of the homosexual stereotype that underpins the primary joke here, it does open up space for the kinds of emotional connection with, and caring for, animals that are often excluded from representations and performances of masculinity so often associated with sheep farming. This is also interesting given today’s marketing of “ethical” merino wool which relies, in part, on definitions of animal welfare that include Icebreaker affiliated farms hand-shearing their sheep to ensure a thicker layer of wool stays behind to keep the animals warm.

Questions for further research:

• What role can humour play in the critical design of future technological scenarios? What kind of knowledge can be produced? How can we determine successful public engagement?
• What elements of sheep farming and wool production can be characterised as “caring” or “loving”? How do those actions, relations and values relate to “animal welfare”?