Lincoln and animal industry

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 23

Lincoln and animal industry

f Not unnaturally, LinT.v2L. C i? ntribution t 0 th e ■ livestock industry has . betn Primarily with sheep, since this has been the c« m .'k an » , s P ecies in the South Island from the verv beginning. But mention must first be made of the research done in the other species. P: K re .l earch * s associated with the name of M. J. Scott, who was on the colaic Staff from 1922 until 1936 at a time when the pig industry was at its zenith. He did the early work on the use of meat meal and grains in pig feeding, and was responsible for initiating pig recording schemes in the country.

The major contribution m dairy cattle has been Hopkirk’s work on the prevention and treatment of mastitis, which has been adopted by the industry. Minor contributions have been made in the nutrition of town milk supply herds and the solids-not-fat problem. Recent studies of the endocrinology of the horse have made major contributions to improving breeding in that species. Beef cattle resarch has been greatly assisted by grants from the Combined Beef Breeders' Research Committee. Studies on the utilisation of straws by breeding cows, milk production of beef cows, and beef cattle systems for arable land have been made, but it is too early to decide what impact

these may have on industry. The college was the first institution in New Zealand to establish an experimental deer farm and the results of this have provided a very considerable boost to this growing industry. This brings us to sheep. Probably the first experiments were those of the then Director, Mr Bayne, at the turn of the century. He made a comparison of the various Down breeds as sires for fat lambs and showed that on balance the Southdown was the best. This no doubt helped the Southdown to become the dominant terminal sire in the country, though more recent research at Lincoln has shown that this breed is not necessarily the best in today’s market. Research in the modern context really began in the 1930’s when Franklin, recently returned from Cambridge, began detailed studies of calcium metabolism in sheep and the digestibility of New Zealand feedstuffs, while Leslie carried out quite extensive trials at Ashley Dene on the metabolic diseases of the pregnant ewe. Although all this work has been superseded, there had to be a beginning and it at least initiated a responsibility of the college in sheep research. The real impact of the college came after World War II when increases in

student numbers, staff and finance enabled a much greater research effort. Also in 1946 the college was given the Department of Agriculture’s Kirwee experimental farm for the final three years of its lease until 1948. The work was then transferred to Ashley Dene, where large numbers of animals were available, and later again, in 1956, an area of the home farm at the college was set aside as a research farm primarily for sheep. Over the years, 1946-70, a systematic study was made of the feed requirements of the grazing sheep throughout the year, and of the periods when nutrition was critical or non-critical. Equally important was the discovery that there was a close relationship between liveweight at mating and reproductive performance, and that flushing contained both a liveweight and an increasing liveweight component. These observations, together with the definition of feed requirements of grazing sheep, which were previously unknown, has caused considerable change in the current management of sheep throughout the country. The importance of selenium needs no emphasis, especially here in Canterbury. The college, along with the Department of Agriculture, was involved in the initial work which established the value of selenium in preventing

white muscle disease in lambs and in enhancing growth rate. It also played its part in demonstrating the superiority of legumes, particularly white clover and lucerne, in comparison with grasses in promoting good growth rates in lambs. The effect of this has also passed into industry In sheep breeding, too, the college has played a significant role. In the early days the college enjoyed great success in the show ring. The college was one of the first to introduce sheep recording and its stud flocks are among the oldest fully recorded flocks. It was responsible for introducing the first progeny test scheme into a. breed society (the Corriedale), and although discontinued it was the forerunner of subsequent attempts to introduce improved breeding methods. Research work with crossbreeding in the 1950 s led to the demonstration of the superiority of the Border-cross ewe over the pure Corriedale or Romney, and the college can claim to have been almost solely responsible for the introduction of the BorderRomney and Border-Cor-riedale sheep into industry It also played a major role in interbreeding the Bor-der-Romney to produce what is now known as the Coopworth. In the field of wool, the wool surveys done back in the 1940 s have provided data which has been very

useful in defining relationships between weight and quality number and relative profitabilities of types, while the more recent work on discolouration in wool has highlighted the significance of this problem in the industry. Smaller contributions have been made in- a considerable number of other fields, such as in earlv weaning of lambs, the factors affecting growth rates of lan.bs on lucerne, oestrogens in lucerne ano the increases in feed requirements due to shearing Some good research work has been done which has not had any effect on the industry. An example of this was the discovery that the high growth rate of wool in summer and the low .ate in winter is primarily due to the seasonal rhythm of daylight length. Apart from research work, the college played a very active role in extension especially during the post-war years, when lecturing tcrurs to all parts of the South Island were held, a role now restricted to fields days and farmers’ conferences. Then, too, the thousands of students have provided an ideal medium for getting new developments and new technology into the livestock industries. In all, it may be claimed that the college has made some notable original contributions and has had an important impact on the animal industry