Lively commodities and endemic diseases: Shifting commodity situations and nonhuman disability in cattle and sheep on UK farms

Abstract

The concept of ‘lively commodities’ captures how aspects of the life of certain entities affect their commodification and exchange within capitalist economic systems. Their status as being, or comprised of, living things matters to their commodification in different ways in particular places and spaces and at particular times. This paper uses the empirical example of diseased farmed animals in the north of England to examine the effects of susceptibility to disease on the process of lively commodification, drawing on conceptualisations of nonhuman disability and relations of care alongside literature on lively commodities, and exploring cases of multi-lifeform co-production of disease. It thus focuses on moments where the liveliness of animals means that commodification ‘goes wrong’, because liveliness means susceptibility to injury and disease, alongside its potential for economic production. The paper focuses on two important endemic conditions affecting UK farming: lameness in cattle and sheep, and bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) in cattle. These conditions significantly affect animals' welfare and impact on farm productivity. Drawing on qualitative analysis of transcripts from in-depth interviews with 29 farmers and 21 farm advisers (e.g. vets), the paper examines three empirical themes where farming practices are strongly affected by the lively nature of the commodities being produced: first, the anticipatory practice of breeding animals resistant or vulnerable to disease; second, lameness and nonhuman disability; and third, BVD and threats to agricultural biosecurity. The paper concludes by revisiting the concept of lively commodities in situations where farmed animals are diseased, and reflects on the implications of this for their shifting commodity status in particular times and places.