Our Artwork analysis
Theme: What it takes to keep the
Australian Dairy Industry sustainable?
Concept: The overall concept of our artwork
deals with mechanisation and natural resource management in the Dairy Industry.
The natural resource base that the industry relies upon for sustainable
increases in efficiency, are the legs and living pasture foundation that we
have constructed and grown for our cow to stand on. Her body is about
mechanisation and innovation in milking technology and the biomechanical processes
of milk production.
The trolley base
has an acknowledgement of country to the local aboriginal people who we pay
respect to for being custodians and sustainable land managers for thousands of
years. It is this land that is now used for agriculture in the Shoalhaven
region and in the spirit of reconciliation we believe that their knowledge of
country and land management practices is valuable and we can learn from this.
The base is our
representation of the importance of good quality pasture to milk production. It
has been planted with Kangaroo Valley Rye grass (developed as a pasture grass
in our local area), Lucerne, red clover and chicory. This mixture of nutritious
species includes the deeper rooting perennials which are able to withstand dry
conditions and are used on many dairy farms to improve pastures. The growing
medium contains the compost that we made at the beginning of our Archibull
journey this year and all the worms that have bred in that organic matter.
The front region
of her lower body at the heart of everything, uses interconnected drain pipes
that lead from an effluent pond, to spell out the words Natural Resource
Management. Waste water recycling is an important scheme that dairy farmers
close to our school can access through the REMS scheme and being mindful of
wasting water and considering what goes down the drain are important Natural
Resource Management issues. NRM is at the heart of what will allow the dairy
industry to continue to expand in the future. Sustainable use of our natural
resources is critical for longevity of the industry.
The front leg
moving forward is all about fencing off natural waterways in the farm
landscape. We believe this is an important way that Dairy farmers are moving
forward. This allows the riparian stream bank vegetation to not be trampled by
cows and protects the banks from eroding. This will improve the water quality
and the farm ecosystem. It is a common practice on farms in our local area,
especially on properties that lead on to the Shoalhaven River, for farmers to
work with volunteer Landcare workers and Southern Rivers Catchment Management
Authority, to fence off the river banks and replant mangroves that the cows
have eaten. We have also represented how waterways are interconnected within a
catchment and ultimately flow out to the sea in our region.
The other front
leg shows the importance of maintaining good soil health and the complexities
of the soil food web. This is linked to increasing biodiversity on farms as
represented by the three native birds: Black duck, Magpie and Willy Wagtail who
are the top consumers in the web. By looking after soil structure and fertility
and increasing biodiversity, farmers can keep their pastures healthy and their
farms sustainable.
The back leg in
the forward position represents five perennial pasture species: Lucerne,
chicory, red clover, white clover and plantain. All of the species are highly
nutritious pasture fodder for dairy cows that are planted to improve the
quality of pasture. The better the pasture, the better the milk quality and
quantity. These species have deeper root systems than ryegrasses and can
withstand low rainfall conditions. This is very important in the ever
increasing variable climate that Australian farmers work under and our tendency
to have prolonged drought periods. Lucerne can add Nitrogen to the soil which
improves its fertility.
The other back
leg is about food waste and the unnecessary loss of 4 million tonnes of food in
Australia each year to landfill. The bright red worm reminds the viewer that
composting is a much better alternative to landfill. The ball and chain around
her leg is symbolic this food waste being a weight that is dragging the
sustainability of Australian agriculture backwards.
On her back udder
are symbols of the supermarket price wars for discount milk and a wound that is
being stitched up with a needle down the back of her udder. This represents the
damage that reduced prices have caused for dairy farmer confidence in the
economic future of their farms. Farmers work hard and invest huge amounts of
money in their farm operations and they deserve fair prices for their milk from
the processors.
We have treated
one side of our cow as if she is a large fermentation chamber machine that
‘makes’ milk. We have shown the inputs (food, water and the birth of a calf)
necessary to run the machine and what is produced. The importance of genetics
and computerized records to breeding programs is represented by the image of
the DNA double helix molecule connected to a section of a computer motherboard.
The layout and design of the ruminant digestive system of the cow is
represented in situ, as if viewing in cross-section and each part is labeled
with its anatomical name like the blueprint of a machine might be drawn up. We
have kept the relative size and position of each part correct for a real cow.
The side opens and the ruminant digestive system can be pulled out. Details
about the roles of each of the four stomachs and other sections are written on
the material model that we have sewn together, so that the viewer can
understand details about how the machine works and what is produced. We have
also shown the waste products that are created. The mammary glands in the teats
are also included in detail on the udder as they are another part of ‘the
machine’.
On the other side
we have used a timeline/graph to show how increasing mechanisation and
computerisation of the milking process has changed over time. We have used the
statistics on the graph for milk production and numbers of cows to show how
efficiency gains in milk production have been linked to innovation and
technological improvements over time. These are linked to the figures that are
underneath the images of milking technology which show how many people an
Australian farmer fed in 1950, 1970 and 1990. The images are of the changes in
milking technology as innovation, mechanisation, computerisation and robotics
have been used in milking technology design. The one farmer is shown in three
images and their role becomes less labour intensive over the time scale.
Robotic dairy milking promotes milk production through more frequent
stimulation of the mammary glands as the cows are often being milked 3 times a
day and when they want to be milked which is good for animal welfare. Her head which
has suggestions of ‘morphing’ into a cyborg cow (a futuristic vision?) has
planet Earth eyes as she looks forward to feeding a future growing population
and she carries her name on her forehead and the Australian dairy logo on her
blaze.
Stylistic influences:
There are several
characteristics which make our artwork postmodern; these include bricolage, the
use of words prominently as the central artistic element, collage,
simplification, appropriation, the recycling of past styles and themes
in a modern-day context, as well as the break-up of the barrier between fine and high arts and low art and popular culture. The juxtaposition of old and
new, especially with regards to taking styles from past periods and re-fitting
them into modern art outside of their original context, is a common
characteristic of postmodern art. Bricolage is the
construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen
to be available. In our work we have used computer motherboards, compost,
galvanised iron, chain, a volleyball, expanding foam, a baby’s headband,
earthworms, living pasture species of plants, felt, material, wood and
electrical leads. Appropriation
in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no
transformation applied to them. The elements treated this way are the computer
motherboards, electrical leads, chain and the living pasture base that our cow
stands in. Text and numbers make up a significant part of the art work and are
a central artistic element. All of the text is connected to the images and
concepts we are trying to portray. The food waste leg and back udder have been
treated with collage and also include images that come from popular culture
such as the half price symbol and red hand logo. The painting styles are both
expressionistic and realistic and these have been juxtaposed against stylised
drain pipes which make up the wording on the front, simple arrow symbols,
numerical data and the stylised Holstein black and white markings of her front
and rear.
What makes your
Archibull unique?: The connection between the two elements of NRM and Dairy,
her living improved pasture base and her pull out model of the digestive system.
Year 8 English responses:
An Udder Catastrophe!
Pasture by
Pasture, we move around.
Eating and
pooping all over the ground.
Calf by calf,
labour by labour.
We help
these humans, we do them a favour.
4 is the
number of stomachs we have,
4 is the
time we are milked by Gav.
It is hard
work but we shouldn’t complain,
At least
we’re not meat cows, who live in vain.
Grown to be
killed, end up burgers.
It’s time to
hit the hay, as the night converges.
Udder
Brilliance
Yesterday we
learnt a lot about the Dairy Industry and cows.
We learnt
that we waste 4 million tonnes of food a year and we need to start being more
conservative with what we do.
We also
realised that the way we milk our cows is changing and evolving a lot and it is
now being done mechanically.
On the cow
they have put a lot of work into producing such a high standard of art. The cow
shows how much it is developed and it shows a timeline of how milking has
changed from using your hands and a bucket to being milked robotically.
The insides
of cow have been added to the internal cavity, to show the four stomachs of a
cow.
It has a lot
of detail and must have taken a long time to get where it is now.
Jasmine,
Sonja and Georgia. Year 8 English
Udder
Brilliance
Shoalhaven
High Schools Archibull Cow, “Udder Brilliance”, Is a very creative and
inspiring example of the Dairy Industry.
It shows on
one side how the dairy farming career has developed over the years from hand
milking to robotic dairies today.
One leg is
about the natural resource management which is where the farmers are having to
fence off rivers so the cattle cannot get to it because the cattle were causing
erosion.
Another leg
is about the pasture improvement ensuring that farms plant perennials .
The last leg
is about how much perfectly good food gets thrown out which is a total of four
tonnes annually.
The 2013
Archibull Cow is extremely good and everyone involved has done a great job.
By Shellyce
Hobill, Rachael Harris, Rebekah Nielsen and Nikita Lee. Year 8 English
Udder
Brilliance
The
Archibull Award-
Yesterday we
viewed the cow that has been prepared for entry by our teachers and students.
One leg is
about the Natural Resource Management- Fencing off natural water ways.
One leg is
about the importance of healthy soil to maintain food webs.
One leg is
about the food we waste each year in Australia which is 4 million tonnes
annually.
One side of
the cow displays milk production and how farms need to move to automation to
improve the value of their work.
I learnt in
yesterday’s lesson that it is very important for our society to become more
aware of how we waste tonnes of food each year in Australia. How it is becoming
more important for farms to ensure that any natural water ways are protected
from cows trampling the banks and causing erosion.
How the four
stomachs of a cow work and that it is important to plant perennials which are
deep rooting and handle drought.
Maxine Kelaher
