Thursday, 27 August 2015

What is Biodiversity?

                                     
 Australia's cattle and sheep industry occupies around 50% of land used in    Australia. 
 34% of Australian cattle and sheep farmers are members of land care groups.
 37% of farmers have areas of conversation significance on their farm.
 73% of these farmers protecting areas of conversation significance. 
 
Livestock farmers are dedicating areas of their property to vegetation

busy working on cow


Tuesday, 18 August 2015

A Name....What's in a Name?

We wanted a name to suit her character and reflect the meaning of the cow. 
So we went through a range of artists names......
Pablo
Eduard
Frida
Camille
Mona
well, there were more, but it got a bit silly!!
so ,
Mona Lisa......
Image result for mona lisa







hang on,
MOONA LISA
Image result for mona lisaImage result for mona lisaImage result for mona lisa

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Did you know?????

Did you know that you find beef / beef products in all sorts of unexpected places.
Did you know that 99% of the cow is used in a whole range of products!!
Plastic Bags - Many plastic bags contain a "slip agent' which reduces the friction in the material.What are those made of?    ......  animal fat!!Image result for plastic bags
Car and Bike Tyres - Some manufacturers use an animal based stearic acid, which helps rubber in tyres hold their shape.


Glue - Animal glue made from boiling animals cognitive tissue and bones is apparently the best adhesive for fixing musical instruments made of wood.
Fabric Softener - Some softener contains Dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride which comes from the cattle industry.
Cosmetics and creamsImage result for lipstick
Toothpaste - Glycerin is found in animal and vegetable fats, used in many products including toothpaste.Image result for toothpaste

White and Brown sugar - what about hidden products in the manufacture process ? Among vegetarians its known as that purified ash from animal bones is used in filters to refine sugar by some brands.
Cake Mix - sometimes listed as lard - beef fat can be found in cake mixes and gelatin in icing.
Did you know gelatin , what jelly is made of, comes from the connective tissue in beef animals. what about gummi bearsImage result for gummi bears, marshmallows and mentos............yes beef.
Hard cheese - cheddars and parmisan are often made by using rennet, which is the lining of animal intestines. Most soft cheese are not.
And these are just a few products!!!!!
I cant tell you how shocked we were to see all these ingredients in these and other products.

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Checking out some Classrooms

helping with an experiment in the science labs 
                                                  loving the footy.....goalie!!
   do a little dance........ get down tonight 
keep up!

                                           

What is appropriation?

Appropriation is the intention borrowing, copying and alteration of pre-exhisting images and objects.
Appropriation is something we have looked at in class and was a great concept to continue in the cow. 
The key to successful appropriation is to choose famous artworks that are commonly known so people know you have appropriate them.
Image result for famous paintings
We selected the following artworks that would be able to link to Target 100 initiatives through theme and content related to the Beef industry.
# 53 - breeding cattle without horns.
so.....
We looked at Climate, technology, the land. breeding, genetics, and the idea of using he whole cow.(99% we were told by Tim - our farmer)
we chose a whole range of artists and artworks as well as Target 100 initiatives.
We then decided, stylistically we could have some fun appropriating famous paintings, using cows to replace the people in artworks. These paintings were selected carefully to find a correlation between artwork and target 100 initiative.
Side one of Archi

The scream – Munch
# 53 breeding cattle without horns.
What a shocking thing to do, well so we thought initially. However, this does protect farmers and other animals. Farmers currently de horn cattle anyway.

Botticelli - Birth of Venus
#3 – Adapting climate Variability
Changes in weather, temperatures and rain that affects the farmer and the way he develops the farm.

 Leonardo’s Mona Lisa
 #60 – breeding management. Mona Lisa is all about good breeding and the expertise of painting technique and sensibility.
Breeding good cattle is beneficial to farmers and exports.

Lichtenstein – Hopeless.
Is farming that hopeless?
Let’s be positive. Sustainable farming helps the land, beef industry and uses developing technologies.
  
Picasso –
Just seemed appropriate. The new territories of genetics, breeding and new technologies.

# 39 - Sowing into new territory


 Side Two of the Arch
Sydney Nolan, John Olsen, Margaret Preston Russell Drysdale, John Coburn and Fred Williams are all Australian artists who represent the Australian landscape. Its harshness, all each showing a different perspective.

The initiatives for this side include
# 4 – Seeking a tick vaccine

#64 -  More Beef from Pastures

 #68 - Prickly Acacia control
 #37 -  Whole farm analysis
 #52  - Giving farmers the edge in improving their operations
 #16  -   Identifying the best plant species for reducing methane emissions


Each have a connection to the land, improving conditions, developing strategies that will potentially not only look at the beef industry as a commodity for production, but also considering biodiversity and sustainable farming.

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Lets get Started

Planning - sketching some ideas.
preparing canvas and sketching up onto the cow

researching......

Monday, 3 August 2015

CATTLE AND WATER

What is a Water Footprint?
Measuring the total environmental impact of Water Consumption.
It is far more complicated than simply adding up the volume of water consumed from start to finish.
So what can affect these numbers.......
* age and size of cattle sent to market
* geography - coastal or inland farming
* were cattle raised in pastures or feedlots?
The results can range from 3.3Litres to 221 Litres of water per kg of live weighed cattle.
Beef can be produced in many ways which adjusts these numbers, everyone has a different calculation.