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    Red meat from pasture : sustainable livelihoods for small mixed farmers in China's Yunnan Province : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Applied Science in Agribusiness Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2001) McDermott, Alan Kent
    China's pattern of food consumption is changing. The demand for high quality red meat is rapidly increasing, especially in the more affluent coastal regions. The pastoral livestock farmers in Southwest China have low and declining incomes, and operate in a highly uncertain environment. This environmental uncertainty is derived from the seasonal climate, land tenure policies, and a dealer-dominated supply chain in which information is scarce, ambiguous, and untimely. The researcher spent two years in China's Yunnan Province working on a pastoral development project. During this assignment, the researcher undertook a case study of the small, mixed livestock and cropping farmers involved in the project, together with an evaluation of alternative strategies for pastoral development and enhancing livestock production. The case study also involved an overview of agricultural extension and the red meat supply chain in the study area. The current farm production systems are environmentally, financially and socially unsustainable. Farm output is low and achieved inefficiently at considerable cost to future productive potential. Farmers are not investing in farm improvements because they lack confidence in their ability to generate a return from such investments. Confidence is low because farmers do not trust other supply chain participants, and they perceive a low level of control over the operating environment. This is resulting in a vicious cycle of unsustainability. There are numerous market opportunities emerging due to changes food consumption. Farmers have three broad strategic options for taking advantage of these opportunities: invest in technologies to raise output and quality, further process to add value and increase consumer acceptance of red meat and co-operate within the supply chain. The technologies extended as part of the development project were demonstrated to yield significant benefits in terms of production and profit. However, adoption has been low because many of the technologies did not consider local constraints, extension has not widely occurred and uncertainty in the operating environment did not encourage investment. For farmers to be able to successfully implement these strategies farmers need to be empowered and a more enabling environment created. This empowerment involves changing farmers' perception of locus of control, sharing control and supply chain participants learning about each other. Co-operation between farmers and the rest of the supply chain should provide benefits along the whole chain. A model for co-operative and sustainable development is proposed and limitations of this model are discussed. Title: Red Meat from Pasture: Sustainable Livelihoods for Small Mixed Farmers in China's Yunnan Province. Degree: Master of Applied Science in Agribusiness Management Author: Alan Kent McDermott Year: 2001 Keywords: Southwest China; pastoral livestock systems; supply chain management; sustainable livelihoods; trust; perceptions of control; extension of technology.
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    Venison production from weaner Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 1993) Soetrisno, Edi
    Forty four weaner red deer (Cervus elaphus) fawns (26 stags; 18 hinds) were used to investigate the effects of grazing pure red clover (Trifolium pratense) or perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)/white clover (Trifolium repens) pastures and immunisation against melatonin upon growth and venison production, with the objective of the stags attaining a minimum target slaughter liveweight (92 kg LW;>50 kg carcass) by 12 month of age. The experiment was conducted at the Deer Unit Massey University, NZ, during 1991. The animals were randomly allocated into eight treatment groups (starting on 13 March 1991), with the combination of pasture types ((pure red clover (RC) or perennial ryegrass/white clover (PRG/WC), sex (male or female) and immunisation (against melatonin or placebo only). The deer were rotationally grazed on either RC or PRG/WC pasture (feed allowances 6, 7 kg DM/h/day, respectively) during autumn and spring. During winter, all animals were combined and grazed together on PRG/WC pasture (6 kg DM/h/day feed allowance), at a pasture residual DM of 1100 kg DM/ha. The subcutaneous anti-melatonin injections were administered to the immunisation groups at birth and at weaning. Pre-grazing herbage mass for RC or PRG/WC were respectively 3568, 3706 kg DM/ha in autumn; 2726, 2150 kg DM/ha in spring; 1736 kg DM/ha in winter. Post-grazing herbage mass for RC or PRG/WC averaged at 1822, 1882, in autumn; 1705, 1334, in spring; and 1170 kg DM/ha in winter, respectively. Total nitrogen (N) and organic matter digestibility (OMD) concentration of both feed on offer (FO) and diet selected (DS) were higher in RC than PRG/WC (FO total N: 3.4 vs 3.4% DM in autumn, 4.1 vs 2.6% DM in spring; FO OMD: 77.3 vs 78.6% OM in autumn, 84.5 vs 80.3% OM in spring; DS total N: 4.2 vs 3.9 % DM in autumn, 4.7 vs 3.3% DM in spring; DS OMD: 84.2 vs 83.2% OM in autumn, 87.7 vs 82.4% OM in spring). Liveweight gain (LWG) of RC stags and hinds was significantly higher than PRG/WC animals in autumn (237 vs 207; 197 vs 159 g/d; P<0.01) and in spring (346 vs 281; and 260 vs 188 g/d; P<0.001), but not in winter (94 vs 95; 38 vs 40 g/d; P>0.05). Weaner stags and hinds grazing RC forage had significantly higher voluntary feed intake (VFI) than the comparable animals grazing PRG/WC pasture in either autumn (P<0.05) or spring (P<0.001). By 12-month of age, stags grazing RC were 6 kg heavier and hinds 7 kg heavier than animals grazing PRG/WC forage. All (100%) RC stags attained the minimum target slaughter LW (>92 kg LW; 50 kg carcass) by 12-month of age at the end of November, compared to 90% of PRG/WC stags. Carcass weights (kg) and dressing percentage (%) of RC stags were significantly higher than PRG/WC stags (58.9 vs 53.3 kg, P<0.01; 56.2 vs 52.4%, P<0.001), but the carcass GR was not different (P>0.05) either after or before being adjusted to equal carcass weight. The immunisation treatment did not provide any significant responses (P>0.05) in LWG and did not affect plasma prolactin concentrations. The immunisation against melatonin treatment did not give any significant effects (P>0.05) on all measurements of carcass production. In conclusion, these studies show that early venison production from grazed PRG/WC pastures is possible, and that this can be further improved by inputs of RC. Weaner red deer grazing red clover forage during autumn and spring grew and produced venison better than animals grazing conventional PRG/WC pastures. The immunisation against melatonin did not provide any significant effects on growth and venison production from weaner red deer grazing either RC or PRG/WC forages. RC offers very good potential as a special purpose forage for venison production.
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    Studies of productive traits in a New Zealand Romney flock : the effect of some environmental factors, heritabilities and repeatabilities : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Animal Science at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1971) Lundie, Roger Scott
    Three traits of dual purpose sheep such as the New Zealand Romney are of paramount importance in contributing directly to income. These are reproductive ability and wool production of the ewe flock and the growth rate of the lamb produced. Investigations of methods of genetic improvement of these traits is important, since such improvement is more permanent than that caused by environmental modification or the use of hormones. Improvement of productive traits through genetic means may be brought about (1) by exploiting the differences between groups of animals which have been genetically distinct for some time (breeds, strains, studs or inbred lines) or (2) by exploiting the difference between individual animals within a flock, The first method involves crossbreeding, which may change production through the introduction of superior genes or through complex interactions between genes (heterosis and epistasis). Rae (1952) reviewed the field of crossbreeding and looked at grading up existing breeds, combining crossbreeding with selection to form new breeds and exploiting hybrid vigour (heterosis). With the N.Z. Romney this practice is in fact being carried out by some farmers who are crossing with the Cheviot (to obtain an animal for a harsh environment) or Border Leicester (for a more favourable environment). In some cases these crossbred animals so produced have been interbred and selected to form the two new breeds Perendale and Coopworth respectively. For many reasons many farmers prefer not to cross their flocks with animals of another breed and it is then necessary to use the second method, i.e. to select within the farmers flock, if any genetic improvement is to be acheived. This study is aimed at studying factors of importance to within flock selection.