Research & Development

Animal Health & Welfare 

1. Biological control of facial eczema using atoxigenic Pithomyes dsartarum.
2. Significance of ryegrass endophyte effects on beef production.
3. Improved diagnosis of vitamin B12 status and requirements.
4. An investigation of the effects of soil manganese (Mn) on the availability of soil cobolt (Co) for plant uptake and animal health.
5. Molybdenum, sulpher, copper interactions on copper absorption in pasture fed cattle.
6. Facial exzema control: on-farm assessment of promising alternative pasture species and their management.
7. Optimisation of pre-slaughter feeding.
8. The epidemiology and control of Johne's disease in cattle in New Zealand.
9. Development of a defined subunit vaccine against Johne's disease.
10. Objective methods of measuring animal welfare.
11. Identifying the causes of pleurisy through a multi-disciplinary team.

Co-Products

1. New technologies and information for meat industry co-products.
2. New methods of production of dried collagen.

Environmental

1. Reducing environmental impacts of animal processing.

Food Safety

1. Science-based information on meat borne bacteria.

Maximum Growth Rate

1. Management options for control of clover root weevil.
2. Improved effeciency of meat production through modern nutitional management.
3. Increasing pasture persistence.
4. Enhancing farmer understanding and management of pasture quality.
5. Nutitive value of pasture and its impact on meat production.
6. Improving summer/autumn animal performance and high quality alternatives to high endophyte ryegrass.
7. Using chemical topping to prevent pasture reversion.

Meat Quality

1. On-farm and pre-slaughter treatment effects on beef tenderness.
2. Optimising processing for market-defined meat quality.
3. Meat product attributes relating to customer desires.

Processing Efficiency 

1. Development of new refridgeration technigues.
2. Improving worker performance and safety.
3. Assessment of the ergonomics and cross contaminaton risk from the use of smooth impervious gloves in pre-inspection areas of adult beef processing plants.

Reproductive Efficiency

1. Production of prime beef animals basedon embryo micromanupulation, embryo sexing and embryo mulitplication technologies.

Calf Rearing Systems

1. Research into economically effecient calf rearing systems at Poukawa.
2. Annual road-show of calf-rearing seminars in conjunction with Alaistair Ormond and NZ Beef Council.

Send mail to tim@storthoaks.co.nz with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: January 30, 2001