About Me and Contact Details

I am an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in the United Kingdom. I undertook my BSc (Agriculture with Animal Science) and PhD (Ruminant Nutrition and Behaviour) at Harper Adams University College (UK), followed by post-doctoral research at Cornell University (USA) and a faculty position at Washington State University (USA). In addition to my research, I am also the Chair of the Route Panel for Agriculture, Environment and Animal Care; the Vice-Chair of the Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education; and am on the board of the National Beef Association. Passionate about sustainability issues and the role of animal agriculture in helping to feed a hungry world using fewer resources, my current research and outreach work focuses on modelling the environmental impact of livestock production systems.

My professional goal is to communicate the importance of factors affecting livestock industry sustainability to enhance the knowledge and understanding of food production stakeholders from the farmer through to the retailer, policy-maker and consumer. I have an active social media presence and spend a considerable amount of time de-bunking some of the more commonly-heard myths relating to livestock production. To this end, she was awarded the Women in Dairy “Dairy Industry Woman of the Year 2017” and the Farmers Guardian “Farming Hero of the Year 2018” awards, and was awarded Associate Membership of the Royal Agricultural Society in 2018.

Please feel free to contact me to enquire about environmental modelling and analysis, or if you’d like me to speak at your event or conference. I have presented to audiences of up to 5,000 people, in 14 countries on six continents. Past presentations have ranged from 15 minutes to 4 hours, and I’m also absolutely open to panels, Q&A, webinars etc. Examples of my powerpoint presentations and videos of past talks are in the links to the left. For more information please email me at jude@livestocksustainability.com

Water for food 1

45 thoughts on “About Me and Contact Details”

  5. Your posts are a great insight to our food production and consumption, Im a high school student writing a research paper and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions if it wasn’t a bother? Other than that nice blog will keep up 🙂

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  6. I absolutely love your rant on being an omnivore! I have been saying that for quite some time. I was raised on a registered Hereford ranch in Comanche Texas so we had beef in the house 4 or 5 times a week, at least in the fridge and definetly a meat of some kind at every meal, but we also always kept a garden when we could and had as many vegetables and fruit at the table as well. Everyone is either one or the other and forget that both were put here to enjoy together in moderation. I love to go into a meat market or seafood market and smell the fresh meat and seafood. Like wise I get just as excited when I go to an orchard or road side vegetable market. I agree 200 percent we should be focusing on all the foods available not demonizing one or the other. Great wisdom Bovidiva!

    Kindest personal regards,
    Patrick Dudley

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  7. Howdy, it’s your friendly neighborhood Texan again. Just read your blog on water being the next contention. We have already had one of many issues in Texas where Austin didn’t want to send water to the rice farmer’s because as they put it ” the lakes are recreational and should be constant level” or some such nonsense, however, as always no one knows their history. Lake Travis and lady bird lake as well as lake Austin were originally built for flood control and reservoir. Recreation came as a by product. No one also never mentioned that just one of the golf courses that pull from lake Travis can consume 680,000 gallons of water a night if they are watering the entire course. I also find it funny that the same ones railing against the water consunsumption of beefs never look at the fact that their precious ethanol consumes around 9700 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol. Great insight as always Bovidiva!

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    • Thanks Patrick! Agree completely – livestock industry gets vilified for using “too much” water, yet with no context as to how much is used for lawn sprinklers or golf courses. We need good data on all the consequences of what we do!

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  8. Read the 1944 to 2007 comparison dairy industry environmental impacts paper a few years ago. Just recently discovered your complete body of rational work on beef and dairy sustainability. What gems and what a joy to plow through.
    As a crops professional, not well-informed on livestock, this information is extremely valuable and useful in educating people from youthful idealistic students believing food politics myths, to their parents, to ranchers, to policy makers, and particularly to religious zealot academics who long-ago hijacked the meanings of agricultural sustainability away from farmers and ranchers for their own agendas.

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    • Jack- Many thanks for your kind words. It’s great to hear that my posts are useful to you – definitely put a smile on my face and gave me inspiration to continue. Do let you know if there are any topics that you’d like to see me cover in future – I’m always on the lookout for new myths to bust! Jude

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  9. Hi Jude,

    I just put 2 and 2 together. You are heading out to Australia soon to speak at BeefWorks. I spent a short while with Bill Donald up in your pretty part of the world around this time last year and I think you followed my blog (not that I am very good at updating it!!!). Looking forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks and hearing you speak about efficiency gains etc. Safe flight!!

    Regards, David

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    • Hi David-
      Aha! Yep, that’s it. It’s pretty chilly in this pretty state right now – looking forwards to catching a little sunshine in a couple of weeks! Will be great to meet you in person. 🙂 Jude

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  11. Posted this on my personal Facebook page:

    BIG Agriculture….think again

    Why do we think “Big Agriculture” is something new? Read these few verses from the Old Testament and see if you think these were small farmers:

    <>—Job 1:3 [and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.]
    <>–Genesis 32:13-15 [he (Jacob) selected a gift for his brother Esau: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys]
    <>–1 Samuel 25:2 [A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.]
    <>–1 Samuel 27:9 [Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels,..]
    <>–Numbers 31:32-34 [Now the prey… was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, and threescore and twelve thousand oxen,and threescore and one thousand asses,]
    <>–2 Chronicles 30:24 [Hezekiah king of Judah provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly,]

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  12. Another post I made….this one about corn (maize)….
    Where were the Food Police then?

    The Food Police would have us to believe that growing corn and producing food from corn has wrecked American Agriculture and our diets. In the last 3 years, we have grown slightly over 90 million acres of corn annually.

    BUT, here is how much we grew (millions of acres) in the 1920’s and 1930’s , with about half the current population: 1926/27 99.66; 1927/28 98.46; 1928/29 100.40; 1929/30 99.13; 1930/31 103.92; 1931/32 109.36; 1932/33 113.02; 1933/34 109.83; 1934/35 100.56; 1935/36 99.97; 1936/37 101.96; 1937/38 97.17;,1938/39 94.47; 1939/40 91.64. This amounts to 15-20% more than we grow now!

    Again, I pledge to give you Data not Rhetoric. Too many folks have no idea about this country’s history and they reveal it every day in their silly rhetoric.

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  14. You are right. But the general public does not know much about yields either. Two good stories here: 1) Decreased land cultivation for corn and 2) Increased yield through sustainable technologies.

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  15. Absolutely agree! Perception is that “big ag” has taken over the world and therefore must be bad in the same ways that Starbucks is somehow far worse than an independent coffee shop.

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  18. Your anti-vegan argument is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. First of all, the whole world is not going to go vegan at once. Secondly, we currently breed animals by the billions every year just to be slaughtered. As more people go vegan, the demand will decrease and breeding will slow down, which will result in billions of fewer farm animals. Lastly, when the whole world finally does go vegan, the remaining animals will live out their lives in sanctuary and in peace, as we all should be doing. Currently, we treat animals as mere machines and commodities. This is not only wrong from a moral standpoint, but it is wreaking havoc on the environment, too. Get a clue! http://www.VeganVine.blogspot.com

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  21. I am not sure when the world will all become “enlightened”. So far there are few societies that have given up food sources derived from animals. We have only been at this for 50,000 to 100,000 years or so in an organized way. I don’t really know how long it will take humans to lose their omnivore genes. There is no evidence in other omnivores that they have lost theirs.Maybe humans will evolve at a different rate, but the evidence is not very persuasive. Nature is nature.

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  22. Hi Jude,

    Your recent appearance at my blog has sparked a couple of questions from my readers, but we are not so inclined to jump into the comments on your site since your comments section is more heated than my site. ;o)

    I would like to invite you over to peruse the comments and respond if you like. The ladies are talented bloggers from New England and Ireland and bring their manners and bright minds to conversations. We’d love to hear from you. 🙂

    Best,
    Emily Grace

    http://beefandsweettea.com/2014/10/30/would-being-vegan-really-solve-climate-change-not-if-we-dont-kill-the-cows/

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  24. Could you email me with an estimate of how much it would cost to have you come to the Four States Cattle Conference in Texarkana Arkansas Tuesday December 8 2015?

    Thanks!
    Melissa Beck

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  25. I am an Agricultural Communications senior at Oklahoma State University and I am writing a feature story on beef sustainability and hormones in beef production. I would love to get more insight from you and maybe a couple quotes. I find your blog very interesting and love your passion for the Agriculture industry. Could you help me out?

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  26. This is an awesome blog! Your posts are really helping me with my Global Perspectives report. Thanks for being so awesome!

    PS: Do you have any posts on humane slaughter? Thanks.

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  27. Lauren I suggest you check a website called ‘humane myth’. And if you read anything written by Stephen Wise you’ll be well informed. In particular An American Trilogy is very enlightening re the pork industry.

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  31. Hello Jud, hope that you are well. I am the president of the Scientific Committee for the World Buiatric Congress that is going to be held here in Madrid september next year. We wanted to invite you to the Congress as a Keynote speaker but I need an email to formalize the invitation. There you have mine. Would you be so kind to contact me? Thanks very much and waiting for you reply. Yours sincereley
    Alfonso Monge

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