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PhD Studentship: Identifying the Major Constraints to Health and Profitability of the UK Goat Indus

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Jun 30, 2017

Job Details

PhD Proposal

The UK goat dairy industry is diverse, from smallholder herds involved in artisan milk and milk product production to highly mechanised milk production with herds of thousands of dairy animals supplying UK supermarkets with goat milk and milk products. Very little published research has been done within the goat industry but that is changing. The University of Bristol in alliance with the Milking Goat Association are funding a PhD study to provide an evidence base for the current state of the UK goat industry. The first task is to conduct an extensive literature survey which will inform the design of a postal questionnaire to send out to the industry. The results from these two activities together with an expert steering group will identify the priorities for the industry, possible risk factors and a PhD research plan. Cross-sectional prevalence studies across the industry will validate farmer reported prevalence data.

Intervention studies to address the highest priority issues will be designed and suitable farms will be recruited. Based on the industry consultation nutritional intervention pilots in the small ruminant metabolism unit at Rothamsted Research North Wyke may be developed as matching nutritional provision to genetic improvements is vital (much is known and practiced but little is published or researched).

There have already been significant developments in genomics in areas such as health traits, disease resistance, life time sustainability, milk quality and feed efficiency. Potential issues that could be addressed in the project were highlighted by a small industry group in January 2016 included: i) nutrition of Billy kids and the public perception of Billy kid production; ii) rearing of young stock in general is seen by the industry as crucial to efficient production with recognition that the first 100 days of the kid’s life affects her lifelong production; iii) colostrum management, best practice, impact, artificial alternatives, how to assess intake, quality; and iv) Infectious diseases (e.g. coccidiosis, pneumonia, cryptosporidium) which impact on production.

Results will be reported to the goat industry in a final report and fedback with presentations to the industry, Goat Veterinary Society and other interested parties. This work will feed into further Innovate UK applications and peer reviewed publications.

How to apply

Please make an online application for this project at http://www.bris.ac.uk/pg-howtoapply. Please select ‘Faculty of Health Sciences’ on the Programme Choice page and then ‘Veterinary Sciences_(PhD)’ and enter details of the studentship when prompted in the Funding and Research Details sections of the form

Contacts: Dr R. Grogono-Thomas, email protected , Professor Michael R.F. Lee, email protected

Funding Notes

Funding: University of Bristol - L.S.Kalis Veterinary Studentship and The Milking Goat Association

Candidate requirements: The candidate must be a UK citizen and must be a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

Supervisors: Dr R Grogono-Thomas and Prof M Lee

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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