M.S., Genetics and Animal Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1952.
Ph.D., Genetics and Animal Husbandry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1956.
Research
My research was in the area of animal breeding and genetics, with emphasis
on the genetics of reproduction and growth rate and relationships between
these traits. I worked with sheep throughout my professional career, and also
had an active research program with laboratory mice from 1964-1990. The sheep
research included evaluation of long-term selection for growth rate and
multiple births, evaluation of prolific breeds, and assessment of factors
affecting out-of-season breeding. I also used embryo transfer to study the
effects of maternal and fetal contributions to prenatal survival, birth weight
and perinatal survival in this species. Much of the mouse research was along
the same lines. That research provided evidence for the first time that
prenatal mortality, a major source of loss in livestock species such as the
pig, could be reduced to a very low level by genetic selection.
The research with each of the two species led to the discovery of a major
gene affecting a trait of interest in livestock. In mice, the High Growth
(hg) gene increases postweaning growth by ~50% and feed efficiency by ~25%,
with little effect on body composition. I led the group that in the mid
1980's discovered a prolificacy gene in Javanese sheep which produces an
approximate doubling of litter size. (In 2001, an international group led by
a New Zealand research team showed that this gene is identical to the FecB (Booroola)
gene originally identified in Australian Merinos).
From 1978 -1996 I was involved in an international project, the Small
Ruminant CRSP, with research projects on sheep in Morocco and Indonesia.
Since retirement in 1993, although not directly involved in animal breeding
research, I have participated in a number of activities. For example, I
chaired the international Task Force that prepared the report "Animal
Agriculture and Global Food Supply" published by the Council for
Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) in 1999.
