Born in Stratford, New Zealand 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.[1]
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 DairyHusbandry.[2] 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 New Zealand 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 United States 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.
Achievementsedit
Kirton was recognised worldwide as an authority on the growth, development and meat quality of farm animals.[3] His expertise was particularly focused on sheep and then goats. He also had secondary interests in cattle 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.[4]
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 veal 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.
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.
Honours and awardsedit
Kirton was the recipient of a number of awards and honours for his work:
Fulbright Travel Grant – 1959
Research Medal of New Zealand Association of Scientists – 1972
Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science – 1975
DSc from Massey University for his work in the field of animal growth – 1984
Marsden Medal of the New Zealand Association of Scientists – 1991
Doug Campbell Award by the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science for Services to the Institute – 1999.
Referencesedit
^(PDF). nzsap.org.nz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2006.
^Kirton, Alan (1957). Meat studies in the Romney ewe (in two parts) (Masters thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/4797.
^. rsnz.org. Archived from the original on 12 September 2005.
^Bass, John (January 2000). "Annual Report of the Royal Society of New Zealand incorporating the 2001 Academy Council Yearbook". Annual Report of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 2000/01.
alan, kirton, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, 2019, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, alan, henry,. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations May 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Alan Henry Kirton MBE 22 February 1933 25 July 2001 was a New Zealand agricultural scientist Alan KirtonBorn1933 Died2001 aged 67 68 EducationMaster of Agricultural Science Alma materMassey University OccupationScientist AwardsMember of the Order of the British Empire For services to agricultural science 1994 Fellow of the Royal Society Te Aparangi 1990 Fellow of The New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science FNZIAS Hutton Medal for his outstanding contribution to meat science and technology 1998 Alan Kirton with wife Helen in 1962 in Bulls New Zealand Contents 1 Biography 2 Achievements 3 Honours and awards 4 References 5 External linksBiography editBorn in Stratford New Zealand 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 1 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 2 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 New Zealand 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 United States 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 Achievements editKirton was recognised worldwide as an authority on the growth development and meat quality of farm animals 3 His expertise was particularly focused on sheep and then goats He also had secondary interests in cattle 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 4 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 veal 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 1 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 Honours and awards editKirton was the recipient of a number of awards and honours for his work Fulbright Travel Grant 1959 Research Medal of New Zealand Association of Scientists 1972 Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science 1975 DSc from Massey University for his work in the field of animal growth 1984 Marsden Medal of the New Zealand Association of Scientists 1991 Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1991 Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to agricultural science in the 1994 Queen s Birthday Honours 5 Hutton Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand for Science and Technological Merit in Animal Sciences 1998 Doug Campbell Award by the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science for Services to the Institute 1999 References edit HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP PDF nzsap org nz Archived from the original PDF on 28 September 2006 Kirton Alan 1957 Meat studies in the Romney ewe in two parts Masters thesis Massey Research Online Massey University hdl 10179 4797 Annual Report of the Royal Society of New Zealand incorporating the 2001 Academy Council Yearbook rsnz org Archived from the original on 12 September 2005 Bass John January 2000 Annual Report of the Royal Society of New Zealand incorporating the 2001 Academy Council Yearbook Annual Report of the Royal Society of New Zealand 2000 01 No 53697 The London Gazette 2nd supplement 11 June 1994 p 34 External links edit nbsp Scholia has a profile for Alan Kirton Q4707068 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alan Kirton amp oldid 1175471104, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
