Genetic research changed farming

George Davis' retirement from AgResearch Invermay marks the close of a quiet revolution which will forever leave its mark on the sheep industry reports The ODT. A quiet, modest and unassuming man, Mr Davis would hate such praise, but it was his patience and ability to see the wider picture that resulted in him playing a leading role in the discovery of prolificacy breeding genes in sheep. Mr Davis retired last month after a 41-year career. He leaves the sheep industry with a legacy that includes the discovery of the Inverdale prolificacy gene and the Woodlands and Wishart genes. Mr Davis was not a trained geneticist, but colleagues said he had the ability to create a team and inspire others who had the necessary skills. "Because I wasn't formally trained in quantitative genetics, I was more open to look at these single genes," he said. Basically he went looking for what he called freaks - sheep that had a natural genetic disposition to produce lots of lambs. When he found them, he worked with geneticists to see what caused their fertility. His discovery of prolificacy genes has the potential to change the face of sheep farming. Farmers increasingly talk about genes rather than breeds, and while they have tended to slot sheep carrying the prolificacy gene into their existing farms, Mr Davis believes there is potential to change that so farmers here use the technology as they do in the UK and Australia. He said specialist two-tooth breeders using sheep with prolificacy genes could produce lambs for sale to finishers, in the same way Australia had specialist finishing farmers who would buy merino ewes and cross them with a Border Leicester to produce prime lambs. NZ farmers have tended to grab the technology and insert it in to their existing system," he said. There has been a major swing towards sheep fertility, but Mr Davis said there was still a need for the traditional breeder of pure breed sheep.