Alan Kirton
Encyclopedia
Alan Henry Kirton MBE
(1933–25 July 2001) was a noted New Zealand
agricultural scientist
.
in 1933, Kirton was raised in a farming family who ran sheep and dairy cows on a block of land in a small settlement called Kohuratahi
, approximately 90 km north-east of Stratford. He received his primary education at Marco School and went on to Stratford Technical High School for his secondary schooling where he was taught by Mr H C Johnson, a teacher who influenced many promising agriculturalists including C P McMeekan.http://www.nzsap.org.nz/citation/1997Life.pdf
Kirton attended Victoria University of Wellington
for his agricultural intermediate before transferring to Massey University
where he completed a BAgrSc (1956) and an MAgSc (1958). For his MAgSc he received First Class Honours in Sheep and Dairy
Husbandry. While studying at Massey he received a number of prizes including the Lord Bledisloe
Prize, the George Terry Memorial Scholarship, the Senior Scholarship in Agriculture (declined), a NZ Wool Board Scholarship and a Shell Oil Company
Scholarship.
He then spent some time on the Massey staff working for the Sheep husbandry
Department. He received a MacMillan Brown Agriculture Research Scholarship and a Fulbright
Travel Grant which enabled him to enroll for PhD studies at Michigan State University
. He studied under Professor A M Pearson and completed a doctorate in Food Science
in 1962. Before leaving the USA Kirton was elected to membership of Sigma Xi
, the PhD honorary fraternity.
Upon his return from the USA in 1963 Kirton was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
in the Meat Group at the Ruakura
Animal Research Station. In 1966 he was promoted to lead the Meat Group and remained in this position for over 30 years until he retired in 1999.
Kirton drove the need for a research abattoir and then oversaw the planning and construction of Ruakura Research Abattoir. The abattoir remains to this day a major facility for undertaking production and processing research directly aligned to the New Zealand meat industry. Kirton took an interest in animal welfare
and chaired the Ruakura Animal Ethics Committee for 10 years from 1988–1997. He was at first met with opposition from parts of the industry but, as a result of his hard work, those attitudes soon faded.
and rabbits. Kirton's research was mainly focused on the chemical and dissected composition of carcasses, and the role of genotype
or environment in altering these compositions. This included studying the effectiveness of analysing carcass composition through the use of measures such as potassium
-40, ultrasound
and various carcass probes. Kirton helped develop more quantitative and scientific methods to help the industry in identifying meat quality to assist the selection of superior breeding sires.
Kirton dispelled a number of myths that prevailed in the industry, showing that—
Kirton's leadership was influential in the number of farmers choosing to no longer castrate their rams or even remove the tails, so improving meat yield without compromising meat quality, and improving animal welfare.http://www.rsnz.org/directory/yearbooks/2001/kirton.php
Kirton produced over 290 publications for the Meat Science scientific literature, 212 of which he was senior author, and contributed 9 chapters to a number of books at the forefront of the industry. He was a committee member, secretary-treasurer, vice-president, and an honorary life member of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production (1975), a committee member, vice-president, president (1969–70, 1970–71) and (1991–92, 1992–93) of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, and a committee member and a president (1980–81) of the Waikato
Section of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science and a council member and president (1987–88) of the national body.
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
(1933–25 July 2001) was a noted New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
agricultural scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
.
Biography
Born in Stratford, New ZealandStratford, New Zealand
Stratford is the only town in the central Taranaki district of Stratford District, New Zealand. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki/Egmont, approximately half-way between New Plymouth and Hawera, near the geographic centre of the Taranaki region. The town has a population of...
in 1933, Kirton was raised in a farming family who ran sheep and dairy cows on a block of land in a small settlement called Kohuratahi
Stratford, New Zealand
Stratford is the only town in the central Taranaki district of Stratford District, New Zealand. It lies beneath the eastern slopes of Mount Taranaki/Egmont, approximately half-way between New Plymouth and Hawera, near the geographic centre of the Taranaki region. The town has a population of...
, approximately 90 km north-east of Stratford. He received his primary education at Marco School and went on to Stratford Technical High School for his secondary schooling where he was taught by Mr H C Johnson, a teacher who influenced many promising agriculturalists including C P McMeekan.http://www.nzsap.org.nz/citation/1997Life.pdf
Kirton attended Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
for his agricultural intermediate before transferring to Massey University
Massey University
Massey University is one of New Zealand's largest universities with approximately 36,000 students, 20,000 of whom are extramural students.The University has campuses in Palmerston North , Wellington and Auckland . Massey offers most of its degrees extramurally within New Zealand and internationally...
where he completed a BAgrSc (1956) and an MAgSc (1958). For his MAgSc he received First Class Honours in Sheep and Dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
Husbandry. While studying at Massey he received a number of prizes including the Lord Bledisloe
Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
-External links:*...
Prize, the George Terry Memorial Scholarship, the Senior Scholarship in Agriculture (declined), a NZ Wool Board Scholarship and a Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 22,000 Shell employees are based in the U.S. The head office in the U.S. is in Houston, Texas...
Scholarship.
He then spent some time on the Massey staff working for the Sheep husbandry
Sheep husbandry
Sheep husbandry is a subcategory of animal husbandry specifically dealing with the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. Sheep farming is primarily based on raising lambs for meat, or raising sheep for wool. Sheep may also be raised for milk or to sell to other farmers.-Shelter and...
Department. He received a MacMillan Brown Agriculture Research Scholarship and a Fulbright
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
Travel Grant which enabled him to enroll for PhD studies at Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
. He studied under Professor A M Pearson and completed a doctorate in Food Science
Food science
Food science is a study concerned with all technical aspects of foods, beginning with harvesting or slaughtering, and ending with its cooking and consumption, an ideology commonly referred to as "from field to fork"...
in 1962. Before leaving the USA Kirton was elected to membership of Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
, the PhD honorary fraternity.
Upon his return from the USA in 1963 Kirton was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (New Zealand)
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is the state sector organisation of New Zealand which deals with matters relating to agriculture, forestry and biosecurity...
in the Meat Group at the Ruakura
Ruakura
Ruakura is a semi-rural suburb of Hamilton City, in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The University of Waikato is nearby. The area lies to the east of urban Hamilton and to the west of State Highway 1B .The Waikato region is a major contributor to New Zealand's agricultural-based economy, and...
Animal Research Station. In 1966 he was promoted to lead the Meat Group and remained in this position for over 30 years until he retired in 1999.
Kirton drove the need for a research abattoir and then oversaw the planning and construction of Ruakura Research Abattoir. The abattoir remains to this day a major facility for undertaking production and processing research directly aligned to the New Zealand meat industry. Kirton took an interest in animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
and chaired the Ruakura Animal Ethics Committee for 10 years from 1988–1997. He was at first met with opposition from parts of the industry but, as a result of his hard work, those attitudes soon faded.
Achievements
Kirton was recognised worldwide as an authority on the growth, development and meat quality of farm animals.http://www.rsnz.org/directory/yearbooks/2001/kirton.php His expertise was particularly focused on sheep and then goats. He also had secondary interests in cattleCattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
and rabbits. Kirton's research was mainly focused on the chemical and dissected composition of carcasses, and the role of genotype
Genotype
The genotype is the genetic makeup of a cell, an organism, or an individual usually with reference to a specific character under consideration...
or environment in altering these compositions. This included studying the effectiveness of analysing carcass composition through the use of measures such as potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
-40, ultrasound
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
and various carcass probes. Kirton helped develop more quantitative and scientific methods to help the industry in identifying meat quality to assist the selection of superior breeding sires.
Kirton dispelled a number of myths that prevailed in the industry, showing that—
- Meat from old ram lambs does not have a flavour odour problem
- The shape of a sheep carcass has little effect on meat yield or quality
- White vealVealVeal is the meat of young cattle , as opposed to meat from older cattle. Though veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds...
production does not require the absence of light or iron - Goats are an excellent source of lean red meat.
Kirton's leadership was influential in the number of farmers choosing to no longer castrate their rams or even remove the tails, so improving meat yield without compromising meat quality, and improving animal welfare.http://www.rsnz.org/directory/yearbooks/2001/kirton.php
Kirton produced over 290 publications for the Meat Science scientific literature, 212 of which he was senior author, and contributed 9 chapters to a number of books at the forefront of the industry. He was a committee member, secretary-treasurer, vice-president, and an honorary life member of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production (1975), a committee member, vice-president, president (1969–70, 1970–71) and (1991–92, 1992–93) of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, and a committee member and a president (1980–81) of the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
Section of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science and a council member and president (1987–88) of the national body.
Awards
Kirton was the recipient of a number of a prestigious awards for his work:- Received the Fulbright Travel Grant 1959
- Awarded the Research Medal of New Zealand Association of Scientists 1972
- Elected Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science 1975
- Received a DSc from Massey University for his work in the field of animal growth 1984
- Awarded the Marsden Medal of the New Zealand Association of Scientists 1991
- Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New ZealandRoyal Society of New ZealandThe Royal Society of New Zealand , known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933, was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist the activities of a number of regional research societies including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of...
1991 - Awarded an MBEOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 1994 - Awarded the Hutton Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand for Science and Technological Merit in Animal Sciences 1998
- Awarded the Doug Campbell Award by the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science for Services to the Institute 1999.