[Title page and biographies of] Sydney John Miller, Norman McCall Tulloh, Henry Greig Turner and William Maxwell Willoughby

Abstract

Animal Production in Australia PROCEEDINGS OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION VOLUME 14 FOURTEENTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, MAY, 1982 SYDNEY l OXFORD l NEW YORK l TORONTO l PARIS l FRANKFURT Pergamon Press (Australia) Pty Ltd, 19a Boundary Street, Rushcutters Bay, N.S.W. 2011, Australia. Pergamon Press Ltd, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 OBW, England. Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523, U.S.A. Pergamon Press Canada Ltd, Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J lP9, Canada. Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus, Hammerweg 6, Postfach 1305, Federal Republic of Germany. Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France. Copyright 0 1982 Australian Society of Animal Production. Preliminary pages typeset by Rochester Photosetting Service, Sydney Printed in Australia by Macarthur Press Pty Ltd, Parramatta ISBN 0 08 024836 5 ISBN 0 08 024837 3 (Soft Cover) ISSN 0728-5965 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from Pergamon Press (Australia) Pty Ltd. ii OFFICE BEARERS FOR 1981/1982 President President-Elect Vice-President Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer Editors of the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Biennial Conference Editorial Committee Dr D.J. Minson Dr J.L. Corbett Dr G.I. Alexander Dr J.H. Ternouth Dr N.P. McMeniman Dr W.A. Pattie Dr B.W. Norton Dr W.A. Pattie, Convener Miss Mary Rose Dr B.W. Norton Mr K.F. Dowsett Miss Mary Rose C/o Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 191 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia. Dairy Cattle (Wollongbar) - Dr G.J. Murtagh Sheep (Goondiwindi) - Dr P.J. Chenoweth Beef Cattle (Gayndah) - A.J. Ash & A.H. Milles Pigs (Dalby) - Dr KC. Williams Programme Committee Convener Business Address Chairmen of Satellite Meetings FELLOWS OF THE SOCIETY Fellows shall be members who, in the opinion of the Council of the Society, have rendered eminent service to Animal Production in general or within Australia in particular Charles Euston Young, elected January 25, 1956* Mervin Clarence Franklin, elected February 19, 1962' Hedley Ralph Marston, elected February 19, 1962' Phillip Gurner Schinckel, elected posthumously August 11, 1964* Helen Newton Turner, elected February 23, 1966 Keith Valentine Leighton Kesteven, elected February 21, 1968 Archibald James Vasey, elected February 21, 1968 Rodger Henry Watson, elected February 21, 1968 Eric John Underwood, elected August 17, 1970' David Sutcliffe Wishart, elected August 17, 1970 Hector John Lee, elected February 17, 1972 George Russell Moule, elected February 17, 1972' Frederick Harold William Morley, elected February 20, 1974 Alan Charles Hassall, elected February 11, 1976 Lancelot Hamilton Lines, elected February 11, 1976 Ian Wilbur McDonald, elected February 11, 1976 Patrick Reginald McMahon, elected February 11, 1976' Albert Henry Bishop, elected February 22, 1978 Victor Gordon Cole, elected February 22, 1978 Leslie Alfred Downey, elected February 22, 1978 Reginald John Moir, elected February 22, 1978 Robert Love11 Reid, elected February 22, 1978 Wallace Carl Skelsey, elected February 22, 1978 Percival James Skerman, elected February 22, 1978 Dudley Martin Smith, elected February 22, 1978 Neil Tolmie McRae Yeates, elected February 22, 1978 Graham Ian Alexander, elected August 20, 1980 Gordon Lee McClymont, elected August 20, 1980 Terence James Robinson, elected August 20, 1980 Derek Edward Tribe, elected August 20, 1980 Sydney John Miller, elected May 12, 1982 Norman McCall Tulloh, elected May 12, 1982 Henry Greig Turner, elected May 12, 1982 William Maxwell Willoughby, elected May 12, 1982 *Deceased FELLOWSHIP OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION SYDNEY JOHN MILLER Sydney John Miller was born at Tambo in western Queensland. With encouragement from the late Dr George Moule he studied veterinary science and graduated Bachelor of Veterinary Science from the University of Queensland in 1949. He worked in the Sheep and Wool Branch of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock with Dr Moule until 1954. From 1954 until 1957 he managed 'Buckinbah', a large Merino stud in southwest Queensland. In 1958 Syd Miller was awarded the degree of Master of Veterinary Science from the University of Queensland. Since 1958 Syd Miller has been in private veterinary practice in Warwick in southern Queensland. The practice has a large pastoral base serving both stud and commercial properties and covering all aspects of sheep and cattle management including animal health, reproduction and genetics, pasture management and drought feeding. Syd' most significant scientific contribution has been in the development of methods for using artificial s insemination as a tool in flock improvement and in the application of fleece measurement as a scientific aid to sheep selection. Under Syd' technical guidance a Merino stud in north-west New South Wales pioneered the sale of s stud rams on the basis of measured performance. This courageous beginning was, with related efforts in the industry, to do much to further the acceptance of measurement for selecting breeding sheep. It was again with Syd' technical advice that a south-western Queensland stud adopted a system of grading and selling rams with s production records; the first in Queensland to do so. Syd Miller has always been quick to recognize the possibilities of new scientific developments and to translate them into practical use in the field. He has recently studied embryo transfer in the United States of America and has introduced this technique into cattle breeding programmes as a method of rapidly disseminating superior genes. He has convinced management of large pastoral companies that the maintenance of flock and herd health is an essential part of property management and that the veterinary consultant must participate in discussions and decisions on property management. In 1972 Syd Miller worked as a special adviser for the International Wool Secretariat in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina advising governments on sheep production and management. In 1974 he visited India to investigate sheep reproduction problems and to advise on semen collection and storage. Since 1975, as a specialist consultant on livestock production and health, Syd has participated in numerous projects and survey teams in developing countries. He has worked in the Middle East in Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, in Mexico, and in Ghana, Nigeria and Somalia. He has been an active member of the Australian Veterinary Association. He was President of the Queensland Division in 1970 and has served on Council and on many committees. He is a member of the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Queensland. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists and was President of the College in 1976. In 1976 he was awarded the Association' major honour, the Gilruth Prize. Syd has been a visiting s lecturer at the University of Queensland and is a member of the post-graduate Veterinary Science Committee and the Curriculum Review Committee of the Veterinary Faculty. He is widely sought as a speaker at both scientific meetings and property field days because of his ability to communicate at all levels and his extensive practical experience combined with a sound scientific knowledge. He is well known for his clear thinking and decision-making and for his forthright and energetic manner. Though based in Warwick he has practised widely in Australia and overseas. He is regarded by both colleagues and industry leaders as one of Australia' foremost practical exponents of his profession in both Merino sheep and s beef cattle. For his significant contribution to animal production both in Australia and overseas, the Australian Society of Animal Production is pleased to enrol him as a Fellow of the Society. NORMAN MCCALL TULLOH Norman McCall Tulloh was born in Horsham, Victoria, in 1922. The son of the Principal of Longerenong Agricultural College, he graduated in Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne in 1946, after his course had been interrupted by war service in Darwin and New Guinea (1941-1945). As Research Assistant in the School of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, he participated in a survey of the sheep industry in the western district of Victoria which still constitutes the 'bench-mark' for the sheep industry at that time. He then combined research and administrative activities as an officer of the Division of Animal Health and Production, CSIRO, from 1949 to 1957 when he joined the School of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, as a Senior Lecturer in Animal Production. There he has remained, becoming Reader and then Professor; for three years he was Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. Norman Tulloh is best known for his distinguished research on factors influencing the growth and body composition of farm animals. His research in this area, which has extended over more than 20 years, has made a major contribution to both knowledge and thinking on growth and body composition which is so basic to animal production. His original and effective approach to these studies has earned him a Doctorate of Agricultural Science, a personal Chair in Animal Production in the University of Melbourne, the Silver Medal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, and an international reputation of a very high order. In 1981, he was admitted as a member of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences. Throughout his career, Norman Tulloh has had a close liaison with the farming community through meetings, residential courses and association with the various producer bodies. He has made a substantial contribution to the teaching of agricultural science, with particular reference to animal production, at both the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Young scientists from many countries have come to Melbourne to work under his supervision. He has contributed significantly to the development of animal production training and research in developing countries as a consultant to IBRD and FAO and, particularly, through the Australian Asian Universities Co-operation Scheme of which he is a past Academic Director. Norman Tulloh has been active in the affairs of this Society since its inception. He was Honorary Secretary of the initial Provisional Committee in Victoria in 1952, Victorian Branch President in 1960 and 1966 and Federal President 1976-78. He performed outstanding service as Chairman and Convener of the Local Arrangements Committee for the III World Conference on Animal Production in 1973 and much of the smooth running of that Conference was due to his efforts. More recently he acted as proxy for the Immediate Past President of the World Association for Animal Production at the third meeting of its Council in Buenos Aires. For his contributions to research and to the teaching of animal production at both national and international levels and for his contributions to the work of this Society, the Australian Society of Animal Production is pleased to enrol him as a Fellow of the Society. HENRY GREIG TURNER Following a most distinguished undergraduate course for B.Agr.Sc. at Melbourne University, Greig Turner undertook postgraduate study and research in animal physiology at the Universities of Minnesota and Missouri where he was awarded an M.A. in dairy science by Missouri and Honour Membership of Sigma Xi and Gamma Sigma Delta. Immediately after graduating from Melbourne University he was based at the Animal Health Research Laboratory, Melbourne, and worked on a variety of field stations and private properties in Victoria and New South Wales in association with A.J. Vasey, R.B. Kelley and A.T. Dick, on problems of the sheep industry. He was also Minute Secretary of the Australian Committee on Animal Production and its sub-committees, and during this time edited the Survey of the Dairy Industry in Australia. In 1947 Greig Turner was awarded a Science and Industry Endowment Fund Studentship to the United States of America where he worked with Dr W.E. Petersen at Minnesota and Dr Samuel Brody at the University of Missouri on climatic effects on milk production. On his return to Australia in 1950 he undertook research on the physiology of milk secretion in dairy cattle at the Animal Health Research Laboratory, Werribee, and his contribution in throwing new light on milk stasis and milk secretion is still recognized as significant. With the commencement of the Belmont breeding programme in 1954, Greig Turner was given the responsibility of establishing and developing the research programme at the Cattle Research Laboratory. He brought to this position the knowledge and understanding of the significance of the complexities of physiological processes to improved animal breeding and genetics and his philosophy and approach has permeated the research programme ever since. His influence established a centre of research which is considered unique in beef cattle breeding and held in high regard both nationally and internationally. He has encouraged many research workers in a variety of fields with his penetrating insights into the biology of animal productivity. Greig Turner' personal research has been mainly on the role of coat type and heat tolerance as determinants of s productivity in cattle but he has brought his keen analytical mind to bear on a whole range of physiological and genetic aspects of production potential and adaptation in his guidance and direction of the research programme. Although he enjoys a wide international reputation and his views are respected by all his scientific colleagues and associates, he has never promoted himself or sought personal acclaim. Greig Turner was the Foundation President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Society of Animal Production and has been active at Conferences and in the Society' affairs for nearly 30 years. s For his services to science, the cattle industry, and the Society, the Australian Society of Animal Production is pleased to enrol him as a Fellow of the Society. vii WILLIAM MAXWELL WILLOUGHBY Bill Willoughby graduated from the University of Sydney in 1938. He joined CSIRO and during his thirty-eight years as a research scientist at Gatton, Deniliquin, Canberra and, from 1960, at Armidale he exercised a powerful influence on pastoral research in Australia and throughout the world. He was among the first to question the conventional wisdom on pasture management derived from studies with ` pen and the pot' which assumed, for the example, that because a particular programme of harvesting ungrazed plants gave greatest dry matter yields then a supposedly similar programme of grazing management would promote greatest animal production. He championed the use of a fixed area of land with its soil, plant and animal components as the valid experimental unit in pastoral research, and vigorously and effectively disputed fallacious experimental designs with predetermined stocking rates which predetermined the results of comparisons between management practices. Bill Willoughby' s concept, now generally accepted, was that problems in equating the varying quantities and qualities of feed provided by pastures with the varying demands and effects of grazing animals should be seen as problems of ecosystem management. This stemmed from his clear understanding of the realities of animal production in Australia and in many of the world' pastoral areas. s As Officer-in-Charge at CSIRO, Armidale, he greatly developed the Pastoral Research Laboratory, insisting that its work should have practical relevance as well as being scientifically valid and fruitful. Under his leadership the Laboratory gained national and international recognition as a major centre of research into grazing systems and components within the systems. Bill Willoughby has been a member of the Australian Society of Animal Production from the time of its foundation, and actively involved in its affairs at both New England Branch and Federal levels. His successful efforts at Armidale to establish close links between the Society and CSIRO exemplify his view that the pastoral industries and industry research should be seen as parts of one integrated system, not as casually related sub-systems. He has been President of the Northern New South Wales Sub-branch of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1978. For his leadership and contributions to animal production, nationally and internationally, the Australian Society of Animal Production is pleased to enrol him as a Fellow of the Society. Vlll ... HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY Honorary members shall be members who, in the opinion of the Council of the Society, have made outstanding and continued contributions to the welfare and purpose of a Branch or of the Society as a whole. Joseph Phillip Kahler, elected February 11, 1976 Clarence James Daley, elected August 20, 1980 Ian Neville Southey, elected May 12, 1982 HONORARY MEMBER OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION IAN NEVILLE SOUTHEY Ian Southey joined CSIRO in 1960 as a technical assistant and spent four years at CSIRO' Kojonup Research s Station where he participated in many of the pioneer stocking rate studies of H. Lloyd Davies. When, in 1964, the Kojonup station was closing he moved to the new CSIRO research station at Yallanbee, Bakers Hill, where his work extended to clover disease studies. He moved to CSIRO' main laboratories at Floreat Park in 1970 where he s is now a senior technical officer. He was a foundation member of the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Society of Animal Production when it was formed in 1970. When Federal Council considered disbanding the Western Australian Branch, Ian Southey led a small group who salvaged the Branch literally at the last moment. As Branch Secretary, Ian Southey played a principal role in reanimating the Society in Western Australia. This Branch is now one of the Society' biggest and most active branches and stands as testimony to Ian' enthusiasm s s and hard work. He remained Branch Secretary until, in 1979, he resigned to become Secretary of the Federal Council. Most Society members and all who attended the 1980 Biennial Conference will remember the machine-like efficiency with which he kept affairs in order. Many will also remember the seemingly fathomless good humour with which he did so. The Australian Society of Animal Production owes him a debt of gratitude but the Society in Western Australia owes its existence largely to Ian Southey. For services to the Australian Society of Animal Production in general, and to the Western Australian Branch in particular, Ian Southey is elected as an Honorary Member of the Society. , ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Australian Society of Animal Production gratefully acknowledgesthe support and financial contributions received from the following donors for the cost of publication of these Proceedings. The willing assistance of contributors, referees, typists and secretarial staff in the preparation of these Proceedings was also greatly appreciated. Australian Brahman Breeders' Association Australian Meat Research Committee Australian Pig Industry Research Committee Australian Wool Corporation Commonwealth Development Bank Consolidated Fertilizers Limited General Fertilizers Limited G.R.M. International Pty Ltd King Ranch Australia Pty Ltd Roche Products Pty Limited Rumevite Pty Ltd T.A.A. United Graziers' Association of Queensland