Garry Waghorn

Qualifications

• B. Agric. Sci, University of Canterbury 1970, in animal and plant sciences
• M. Agric. Sci, Massey University, New Zealand 1974, in ruminant nutrition
• PhD, University of California, Davis 1982, in nutrition

Areas of interest

Nutrition, especially in cows and sheep.  Forage quality and feeding value for ruminants, ruminant digestive physiology, metabolism and efficiency of nutrient utilisation.

My research is both basic and applied and has included bloat in cattle, effects of dietary condensed tannins on digestion and ruminant health. Ruminant ethane production and mitigation.

Career summary

My current focus is dairy cow nutrition to improve production, health and welfare in sustainable systems. Research includes evaluation of mixed forage feeding systems, development of selection criteria and systems able to identify individual cows with a high feed utilisation efficiency (net feed intake), methane mitigation and the application new technologies on-farm. 

I have specific interests in forage quality and processes of digestion and utilisation able to provide a balanced diet best suited to cow nutrient demands. These include laboratory and field experimentation as well as quantitative biology and simulation enabling data interpretation. 

I am sub-contracted to AgResearch to undertake experimentation and to review, interpret and provide advice on rumen methanogenesis, mitigation and on-farm mitigation applications. My interests include a systems approach to greenhouse gas mitigation including animal, feeding, microbial and systems options and participate in both NZONet and Methanet working groups.

Science leader in the feed conversion efficiency project.

Past research has included extensive experimentation to demonstrate the significance of condensed tannins in diets to improve productivity and health of ruminants whilst mitigating impact of both nitrogen and methane on the environment.

I have researched bloat in cattle, nutritional linkages with twinning in ewes, limiting nutrients for wool growth, parasitology (especially use of condensed tannins to mitigate gastro-intestinal nematodes). I developed in vitro incubation systems suited to fresh forage evaluations and am involved in feed analysis through the NIRS working group.

Publications