Grandin is an adult, on a farm, lying down among cows. She explains that she understands cattle, including what calms them, what makes them afraid, and how to be safe around them. Indeed, she states, “I see the world an awful lot like a cow” (60).

During high school, Grandin’s parents divorced, and her mother remarried. She sent Grandin to work on her new husband’s sister’s cattle ranch in Arizona because she thought the physical activity would be good for Grandin. Immediately, Grandin fell in love with life on the ranch, and enjoyed working with her hands. For instance, she built a gate that can be opened from inside a car and then shut automatically after going through it. Grandin was also intrigued by a cattle chute, a device that gently clamps down on cattle to hold them securely and calmly in place while they are getting vaccines.

Curious about the squeeze machine cattle chute after seeing how it calmed the cows, Grandin wanted to try it out herself. She asked her Aunt Ann to let her try it. Inside the machine, Grandin felt calm, and the effect lasted for a while. Realizing the machine could help her with her anxiety attacks, Grandin builds her own squeeze machine back at school.