Animal production is pushed into new era

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 24

Animal production is pushed into new era

Over the last five years the animal production industries in New Zealand have been pushed into a new era — for reasons both economic and technological. Speaking to the 43rd annual conference of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production in Hamilton last week the society's president. Dr Peter Fennessy, said the economic reasons were obvious to most people.

There were difficulties in markets such as the Middle East lamb market and the United Kingdom butter market. and there were the effects of inflation and the cost-price squeeze on the farmer.

“In contrast the technological aspects such as the potential impact of new developments in genetic technology, have received little attention,” Dr Fennessy said. “As a consequence of these economic and technological factors a new approach to research for the animal pro-

duction industries is vitally necessary."' Dr Fennessy said historically the meat, wool and dairy industries had been well supported by a strong and relevant research base. That was in the past, but what should the objectives be as New Zealand moved towards the twenty-first century?

“Do we really want more of the same — more lamb, more wool, more butter and so on — or do we want something else? “Our objectives must certainly include becoming more aware of our markets, such as the demand for more lean and less fat in our export lambs.

“But more importantly we must do something about it.” Dr Fennessy suggested increasing the efficiency of our farm animals,.especially the reproduction and growth of sheep, and better utilisation of our land and other basic

resources were important objectives.

"However the most important objective is to develop an imaginative and innovative approach while keeping an open mind in terms of potential for new developments.” he said. New Zealand invested very little money in research — only 0.8 per cent of the gross domestic product compared with an average 2.3 per cent for other O.E.C.D. countries. Dr Fennessy said. Because of this small involvement it was absolutely vital that research be of high quality and that it be usefully applied in industry. “We must avoid the temptation to always invest in safe and predictable research — the desire to avoid wasting money means that high-risk research with great potential is neglected.

"A small involvement in research also means that we are very dependent on overseas research.

"Animal production research in New Zealand can be divided into four types: industry development research, such as that for the deer farming industry, predictable pay-off research such as that on the genetics of lamb carcass composition, and local or demonstrationtype researclj. "The foilrth type of research, namely fundamental research, has been neglected in New Zealand. We need considerably more investment and that means resources in money and fundamental research. "We need to know more about how our sheep and cattle actually work," Dr Fennessy said.

To achieve these aims a strong case could be made for the establishment of centres of excellence in research where multidisciplinary terms would develop a co-ordinated approach to research in a particular area, Dr Fennessy said.