EXPERIMENTS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25209, 13 June 1947, Page 7

EXPERIMENTS IN BRITAIN

ANIMAL RESEARCHAT CAMBRIDGE

[From E. G. WEBBER, Special Correspondent New Zealand Press Association.] (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 12. Experiments which will have farreaching effects on various aspects of animal husbandry all over the world have been successfully completed at the Cambridge Animal Research Station under the direction of Dr. J. Hammond, one of the world's leading authorities on animal husbandry, and his assistant, Dr. J. A. Callow, head of the analytical section at the station. When Mr W. W. Mulholland (Darfield) and Mr W. N. Perry (Cambridge), president and vice-president respectively of New Zealand Federated Farmers, visited the station recently they were shown new clutches of chickens in which the colouring of the down plainly marked the male birds, and they saw the effects of drug injections which bring heifers into milk without calving and of Important experiments which will govern the feeding of ewes before lambing. The station has also made such good progress with research into artificial insemination that it is now ready to attempt the experiment of sending semen from certified English bulls to Australia by air. If this trial proves successful it is considered “practicable” to send similar consignments to New Zealand, in the initial stages at least, at no more than the cost of air transportation. The breeding of chickens so that they will show sex-link characteristics at hatching produces clutches in which roosters carry black stripes on their down while pullets are unmarked. These markings disappear in three days as the down thins but remain long enough greatlyito simplify classification. , . „ • Experiments carried out m Bn cam during the war with a drug known as stilboestrol have been carried further at Cambridge and have proved that by the injection of stilboestrol into the blood stream it is possible to bring sterile heifers into milk without calving. The New Zealand visitors were shown photographs of several animals which have produced over 1000 gallons of milk a year by this method. Another series of experiments has proved that it is possible to double the calving percentage of beef cows by injections from the pituitary glands of horses. It has been proved that cows so injected will regularly produce twins instead of single calves. It has also been established at the Cambridge station that the best lambing results are obtained when ewes are given concentrated 'feeding for six 1 weeks before lambing and that harder feeding during the earlier stages does not affect them seriously so long as concentrated grazing is possible before the lambs are born. These experiments are also a result of research begun during the war.