Spring 2005 Newsletter : Secretary's File
Membership
UK Branch membership still remains fairly steady at 317 members, although the annual shake-out at subscription renewal time has still to be felt.
We offer a warm welcome to the following new members who have joined the Branch since our Autumn Newsletter. We hope that they find membership useful and rewarding:
And we regret to announce the resignation of the following members:
We also regret to inform you of the death of Dr Magdy Shanawany, for many years a WPSA member whom many of us remember as a poultry research student at Reading University before he and his wife Amanda bought a farm in Suffolk where, among other things, they farmed ostriches. We offer our sincere condolences to his wife and family.
On a more cheerful note we have to report that Lorna Craig of Deans Foods Ltd, who joined Council last year, has emigrated to New Zealand where she will continue to work in the egg industry. Good luck and best wishes to her. (I have her new address if anybody wishes to contact her). Lorna's departure adds one to the number of Councillors to be elected at the AGM, bringing the total to three.
Congratulations....
....to Peel Holroyd on being conferred with the title of Honorary Companion of the University of Guelph. The University was founded in 1964 by the amalgamation of the Ontario Agricultural College, the Ontario Veterinary College and Macdonald Institute and last year celebrated its 40th anniversary year by conferring honours on its founding alumni.
Poultry Science Symposium No. 29 (2007) - ideas please.
Plans are already being made for the 29th Poultry Science Symposium which is expected to take place in 2007. At present Council have just one proposal - the management, nutrition, health and welfare of adult breeders and layers. If any member would like to contribute ideas on this topic or to propose an alternative one, please send a page of suggested chapter headings and even suggested international speakers to the Branch Secretary by the end of March.
Working Group Vacancies
Current UK representation on the various WPSA European Working Groups is listed below. There are now some opportunities for members to put themselves forward to be considered by Council to fill a number of potential vacancies. These are as follows:
- Economics and Marketing (preferably with a poultry meat bias).
- Meat Quality (following the retirement of long serving member Prof Geoff Mead).
- Hygiene and Pathology (where we are not currently represented).
- Ratites (a recently formed group).
If you would like to be considered to join one of these Working Groups or would like further information, please contact the Branch Secretary by the end of March.
New poultry science books
Poultry Welfare Issues: Beak Trimming
Edited by P C Glatz (Pig and Poultry Welfare Institute, Roseworthy, South Australia.
175 pp, paperback, ISBN 1- 904761-20-8, price £45.
Published by Nottingham University Press, 0115 983 1011, email orders@nup.com or
see www.nup.com
Interfacing Immunity, Gut Health and Performance
Edited by L A Tucker and J A Taylor Pickard. 120pp paperback, ISBN 1-904761-29-1,
Price £30.
Published by Nottingham University Press, 0115 983 1011, email orders@nup.com or
see www.nup.com
Handbook of Poultry Feed from Waste
By A R Y El Boushy and A F B van der Poel, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
420 pp, ISBN 0-7923-6465-1, price £131 (a 25% discount is available
if you use an order form provided by the authors - email: aelboushy@planet.nl -
and mention WPSA).
Published by Springer Life Sciences, tel 00 31 78 6576050, email: orderdept@springer-sbm.com or
see www.wkap.nl
Egg Incubation - Its Effects on Embryo Development in Birds and Reptiles
Edited by D C Deeming and M W J Ferguson. The 1991 book now re-issued in paperback,
462 pp, ISBN 0521612039, ISBN 13:9780521612036, price £43.
Published by Cambridge University Press, www.cambridge.org
Defra website
Defra have informed us of a new page on their website which allows interested parties the opportunity to view, and comment on, documents produced by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), also known as the World Organisation for Animal Health. This webpage can be found at: www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde/eu-int/index/htm. Comments on the webpage itself may also be sent by email to: oie.uk@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Vacation Scholarships
The branch was notified of two Undergraduate Vacation Scholarships too late for inclusion in our Autumn Newsletter. Therefore the application date deadline, 28 February, is now very short:
UFAW Vacation Scholarship 2005
4 - 8 weeks over the Summer Vacation, worth up to £1120 and with a clear
relevance to improving the welfare of farm, laboratory, companion, wild or
zoo animals.
Details and application form from Katherine Parks, UFAW, tel 01582 831818,
email: scioff@ufaw.org.uk or see www.ufaw.org.uk.
The Humane Slaughter Association Dorothy Sidley Memorial Award
Up to £2000 available to fund a project of your choice to improve the
welfare of food animals in markets, during transport or at slaughter, anywhere
in the world.
Details and Application Form from: The Secretary, HSA, tel: 01582 831919, email info@has.org.uk or
see www.has.org.uk
Student requires summer work experience in research laboratory
We have a request from a French student with a theoretical background in animal biotechnology and in poultry production, currently participating in an exchange program at McGill University in Canada. She wishes to acquire more practical experience in a biotechnology laboratory, having some previous experience in biology and chemistry but not in animal science. She is particularly interested in working with stem cells, genetic manipulation etc.
If any member can help her in any way, please contact her directly (Nathalie Rougiere at nathalie.roug@caramail.com
More clouds but just one silver lining!
In the Summer Branch Newsletter we reported that Silsoe Research Institute was to be closed by BBSRC and we now understand that this will happen in April with the loss of many scientific jobs. It seems that a few of these are to be redeployed to Rothamsted Research and a few others may join up with the University of Bristol.
More bad news now comes from Roslin Institute where all welfare related research is to end by April, again with the loss of many scientific jobs and the break up of a world class research team.
The only silver lining comes from the reversal of the earlier decision to close the SAC campuses at Aberdeen and at Ayr, so ensuring at least the short-term future of education and research on these sites.