@conference {3678,
	title = {BRIEF COMMUNICATION: An exploratory investigation of the effects of selection for divergence in methane emissions on rumen digesta and carcass traits in 8-month old sheep},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {74},
	year = {2014},
	month = {06/2014},
	pages = {142-144},
	address = {Napier},
	abstract = {Global agriculture accounts for approximately 14\% of anthropogenic emissions. In New Zealand, methane emissions from ruminants comprise 31.5\% of the total emissions (Ministry for Environment 2009), therefore, any future mitigation of emissions could have substantial economic implications for the agricultural sector. Reducing emissions from ruminant livestock without affecting animal production against a rising demand for animal products is challenging (Clark 2009). Measurements carried out over the last 15 years have shown a common feature of individual animal variation in methane emissions (Pinares-Pati{\~n}o et al. 2011b). Recently it has been shown that enteric methane emissions from sheep are both heritable and repeatable (gCH4/day 0.29 {\textpm} 0.05; repeatability 0.26 {\textpm} 0.02), whether expressed as gross emissions (g/d) or methane yield (emissions per unit of feed dry matter intake, g/kgDMI; Pinares-Pati{\~n}o et al. 2013). This makes breeding an attractive mitigation strategy for the lowering of enteric emissions from ruminant livestock given animal production performance is not affected (Pinares-Pati{\~n}o et al. 2011a)...},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Elmes SN and Bain WE and Greer GJ and Hickey SM and Young EA and Pickering NK and Rowe SJ and Knowler KJ and Pinares-Pati{\~n}o CS and McEwan JC}
}
@conference {89238,
	title = {Ewe body condition score and the effect on lamb growth rate},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {73},
	year = {2013},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {131-135},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {<p>Data were analysed to investigate the association between ewe body condition score (BCS) and lamb growth rate (LGR). Ewe BCS was assessed on a scale of 1 to 5 pre-lambing (BCSL) and at weaning (BCSW). Change in BCS throughout lamb rearing (BCSChange) was calculated as the difference between BCS at weaning and pre-lamb. The three way interaction between birth rank, BCSL and BCSChange was significant (P \&lt;0.05). When the interaction was examined for birth rank, it was significant between BCSL and BCSChange in singles (P \&lt;0.05) and twins (P \&lt;0.01), but not in triplets. In singles and twins, lambs with the highest LGR were from dams that had high BSCL and negative BCSChange or those with low BCSL and positive BCSChange. Triplets had a similar trend whereby lambs with the highest LGR were from dams with a high BCSL and a negative BCSChange. This study suggests that if farmers manage their ewes to achieve a high BCS at lambing time this is likely to improve lamb growth to weaning. In addition, identifying ewes with a low BCS at lambing and preferentially feeding them to increase BCS during rearing may increase single and twinlamb growth rates.</p>
},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Mathias-Davis HC and Shackell GH and Greer GJ and Bryant AL and Everett-Hincks JM}
}
@conference {75875,
	title = {The association of ewe body condition score with weight of lamb weaned},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {71},
	year = {2011},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {62-65},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Invercargill},
	abstract = {Data from 1,301 ewes lambing in 2009 were analysed to investigate the association of body condition score (BCS) with total lamb weaned (TLW). BCS was assessed on a scale of 0-5 at mating (BCSM), scanning (BCSS), pre-lambing (BCSL) and weaning (BCSW) and categorized as <3, 3-3.5 and >3.5. Ewe age, flock, live weight at mating (LWM) and date of lambing (DOB) had significant effects on TLW (P <0.05). Ewes having triplets at birth with >3.5 and 3-3.5 BCSM had a higher TLW (63.2, 63.0 kg respectively; P<0.05) than ewes with triplets at birth and <3 BCSM (56.1 kg). Ewes with 3-3.5 BCSS had higher TLW than ewes with >3.5 BCSS for all birth ranks (49.8 kg, 47.2 kg respectively, P <0.05). There was no association between BCSL and TLW. Ewes with <3 or 3-3.5 BCSW had a significantly higher TLW than ewes with >3.5 BCSW (>3.5 = 43.8 kg, 3-3.5 = 48.9 kg, <3 = 50.9 kg; P <0.001). This study indicates ewes with 3-3.5 BCSS or <3 or 3-3.5 BCSW outperform ewes with >3.5 BCSS or >3.5 BCSW.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Mathias-Davis HC and Shackell GH and Greer GJ and Everett-Hincks JM}
}
@conference {60980,
	title = {Genetic parameters for colour stability of chilled lamb : Brief Communication},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {69},
	year = {2009},
	month = {Jun},
	pages = {220-222},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Christchurch},
	abstract = {An increasing proportion of New Zealand lamb meat is shipped to the European Union market as chilled rather than frozen product, with 29\% exported as chilled product in 2005/06 (Meat and Wool New Zealand, 2006). New Zealand{\textquoteright}s lamb export markets are located such that the chilled product travels large geographical distances via freighted shipping, taking six to twelve weeks to reach the destination. Once chilled lambs arrives at its destination it is further processed and packaged to specification for retail sale. Shelf life and colour stability are particularly important for this... Continued },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {McLean NJ and PL Johnson and Bain WE and Greer GJ and Dodds KG}
}
@conference {41785,
	title = {Effect of MyoMAX on carcass lean and fat},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {68},
	year = {2008},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {43-44},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Brisbane, Australia},
	abstract = {Previous research has identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) for increased lean meat yield and decreased fat in similar regions of sheep chromosome 2, in New Zealand and Belgian Texels (Broad et al., 2000; Johnson et al., 2005; Laville et al., 2004; Marcq et al., 2002). In the case of the Belgian Texels it has been demonstrated that a single G to A transition ...Continued },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Bain WE and PL Johnson and Greer GJ and Dodds KG and McLean NJ and McLaren RJ and Galloway SM and Van Stijn TC and McEwan JC}
}
@conference {41160,
	title = {Lamb survival traits in Coopworth sheep selected for high or low backfat depth},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {60},
	year = {2000},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {61-64},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {Consumer preferences for lean healthy meat have driven genetic selection for leanness in the terminal sire and dual purpose sheep industries over the last 20 years. The Invermay Coopworth lean and fat selection lines were established in 1980 to study the effects of selection for live weight adjusted leanness on carcass traits, and the correlated responses in other traits. This paper reports the findings of two year{\textquoteright}s data on lamb survival and performance in the lean and fat selection lines. Records were collected from 817 lambs comprising 325, 337 and 155 from the fat, lean, and a random-bred control line, respectively. Neo-natal mortality was not significantly different between the three lines, with approximately 93\% of lambs born surviving until tagging. Lamb survival from tagging until weaning differed significantly between the selection lines (P<0.05), with fat line animals having 10.9\% better lamb survival than lean line animals (95.5 verses 84.6\%), after adjusting for differences in year, birth weight, birth rank, skin thickness, wool length, age of dam, mothering ability and ewe udder volume. Fat line lambs were 0.9 {\textpm} 0.1kg (mean {\textpm} SEM) lighter than lean line animals, with control line animals intermediate. Udder volume (as measured by water displacement) did not differ between the three lines. Mothering ability (as measured by distance from ewe to the new born lamb during handling in the field) did not differ significantly between the lean and fat lines. Fat line lambs had thicker skins than lean line lambs at the same birth weight (P<0.01), but had no difference in wool length. The differences in lamb mortality between the lean and fat lines cannot be fully explained by differences in birth weight, indicating some physiological difference between the lines affecting survival. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Jopson NB and Greer GJ and Bain WE and Findlay JA and McEwan JC}
}
@conference {41172,
	title = {Search for a locus near to myostatin that increases muscling in Texel sheep in New Zealand},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {60},
	year = {2000},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {110-112},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {In close collaboration with three Texel breeders, we initially genotyped 36 rams with 5 DNA microsatellite markers that are known to map around the myostatin gene in sheep. Of these 36 rams, progeny of 12 polymorphic sires (4 from each flock) were selected for further analysis. This selection was made on the basis of each sire producing more than 40 offspring which were accompanied by parentage records, live weights at weaning and 8 months of age, and ultrasonic measurements of fat depth and rib-eye muscle dimensions. Final progeny numbers from the sires chosen ranged from 45 to 115 per sire. The data was analyzed by regressing the observed measurements on the probability of which paternal grandparental chromosome was inherited at the myostatin locus. The results suggest that the region of the sheep genome near the myostatin locus affects muscling (P<0.05) and fat depth (P<0.05) in the progeny of 4 of 12 sires tested. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Broad TE and Glass BC and Greer GJ and Robertson TM and Bain WE and Lord EA and McEwan JC}
}
@conference {39791,
	title = {Progeny test of selected lean and fat rams},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {42},
	year = {1982},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {137-140},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Separate trials were conducted to investigate the effects of a synthetic progestagen - medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) - on red deer stags at 2 different stages of the antler growth cycle. MPA treatment of 2 stags from the time of harvest of {\textquoteright}A-grade{\textquoteright} velvet stimulated the growth of additional sets of antlers in each case. This treatment also reduced blood testosterone levels and prevented the seasonal increase in testicular size. Alternatively, MPA treatment applied to 6 stages during their hard antler phase (winter) caused premature casting of the antler buttons in all animals. These findings indicate a possible role of MPA or similar compounds for the artificial manipulation of antler growth under farming conditions.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Fennessy PF and Greer GJ and Bass JJ}
}
@conference {39678,
	title = {Voluntary intake and digestion in red deer and sheep},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {40},
	year = {1980},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {158-162},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Fennessy PF and Greer GJ and Forss DA}
}
@conference {39600,
	title = {The growth and carcass characteristics of entire and castrate red stags},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {38},
	year = {1978},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {142-144},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Drew KR and Fennessy PF and Greer GJ}
}
