PD Dr. Silvia Ivemeyer
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Committed to animal welfare
PD Dr. Silvia Ivemeyer - Diploma I Organic Agriculture, graduated in 2002.
Currently: Researcher at the Department of Livestock Ethology and Animal Husbandry, University of Kassel/Witzenhausen
Growing up with farm animals
Growing up on a farm, I was interested in cattle from an early age, but even as a child I was rather reluctant to keep fattening pigs in barns with fully slatted pens. As a teenager, I kept my own free-range pigs as an alternative model and only made an exception to being a vegetarian when it came to the meat of my own pigs. After leaving school, I looked for agricultural paths that corresponded to my understanding of animal husbandry and land management and began an apprenticeship on biodynamic farms. This was a time that had a significant impact on my life. I spent one year of my apprenticeship focusing on the cowshed and the associated feed advertising. Many of the questions that still occupy me today in my research have their roots in this time. I began to eat meat again from animals whose husbandry I could stand behind, because it became clear to me that meat belongs with milk.
Witzenhausen first choice of study
After his apprenticeship, it was clear that he wanted to continue in the direction of organic farming. In the decision between Kleve as a technical college or Witzenhausen as a university, Witzenhausen "won" due to the prospect of less school-based and more self-determined learning. In addition to the fact that I made contacts and friendships that still exist today, both in teaching and during my studies, it was good for me that the compulsory courses were manageable in terms of effort and gave me the freedom to delve deeper into topics that particularly interested me - these were livestock, especially dairy cows, but also landscape design and biodiversity in agriculture.The highlights of my studies were also my participation in excursions, especially those abroad, but also the co-organization of a student conference on a topic that interested me from my biography: farm succession on family farms and social interaction in farm communities.
Promotion at FiBL in Switzerland
Through my diploma thesis I came into contact with the animal health group at FiBL in Switzerland. The subsequent offer of a six-month internship turned into 10 years of research for me at FiBL in Switzerland. The decision to stay at FiBL for a dissertation after the internship was mainly due to the topic of the associated project: improving udder health and reducing the use of antibiotics on dairy farms. The broad-based research project on the causes of udder health problems and the joint work with farmers on farm-specific improvement strategies was exactly what I was interested in.
Back to Witzenhausen for his habilitation
After the years at FiBL, I was interested in getting to know science from a different, university perspective and the opportunity arose - back in Witzenhausen - to work in Ute Knierim's team in the field of livestock ethology and animal husbandry, which gave me the opportunity to learn, teach courses and at the same time continue my research and habilitate. Topics included (and still include) human-animal relationships and udder health, cow-based calf rearing and the definition and application of animal welfare indicators - in science, on-farm self-monitoring and organic monitoring.In addition to my employment at the university, I currently support the Gäa e.V. farming association in the field of animal welfare and carry out smaller projects and training assignments through the Beratung artgerechte Tierhaltung e.V. (BAT) in Witzenhausen. I am also involved in an animal husbandry association with sheep and landscape conservation, so I have currently found a good mix of my own farming activities, scientific work and putting research results into practice.