Research
Research is an important part of studying at Higher Education level which is why our undergraduate and postgraduate students all undertake independent projects as part of their study programme. These are usually related to their area of interest and are overseen by a member of the academic staff.
We also have an increasing number of staff with research backgrounds. Research undertaken at the College has a direct application to the land based industries and focuses on addressing real issues.
Some examples include:
AGRICULTURE
The College Farm runs to nearly 1000 acres, with 150 cows, 700 ewes, 190 sows and a 50:50 split of arable and grassland and making the most efficient possible use of fuel, fertiliser and feed is now essential. On the college farm, a great deal of effort is going in to optimising input use. It has been made absolutely clear to our students that the days of farming benefiting from cheap energy have gone, and that issues of climate change and conserving energy really do matter.
The College Farm and our degree students are involved in a number of research projects aimed at helping agriculture cope with changing times.
Ruth Wilkinson is looking at feed usage in the pig unit fattening houses. Until recently, our problem has been that the only way to measure the result of any trial has been to weigh the pigs at regular intervals, a time consuming process which is stressful to the pigs.
Our high tech solution, which has raised a few eyebrows, has been to install, thanks to BPEX grant aid, cameras in the fattening houses, which provide incredibly accurate growth performance information. We are now able to measure:
- The daily growth performance of each monitored pen
- The actual weight of “captured†pigs day by day
- Actual growth curves achieved over a monitored period
Ruth’s main aim from her project work is to calculate the optimum sale weight of our bacon pigs. We all know that feed conversion efficiency tails off as a bacon pig grows, but only regular weighing can calculate the point at which the cost of extra feed in is greater than the value of pigmeat out. With feed costs at today’s levels, knowing this information has never been more important.
Doug Phillips is currently surveying fuel usage on a large number of local farms. From initial investigation, average fuel usage on arable units is running at around 65 litres per hectare per year, which until recently has been a small cost that few farmers have even considered. Obviously this figure varies dramatically between farms, and as fuel prices continue to rise, real efforts will need to be made to economise, which will be easier said than done!
Alex Burrows is looking at every option possible to improve the use of slurry, thus saving both bought in fertiliser and unnecessary environmental pollution. Starting before Christmas, he has been adding a powder additive to dairy and pig slurry each week, aiming to break down the crust and stop the release of ammonia and methane, and the associated smell. To date, results have been excellent, with the slurry crust disappearing.
ANIMAL MANAGEMENT
Bishop Burton College have a number of staff within the subject area who have engaged in significant research in a diverse range of topics, including personality in horses, weaning management strategies on behaviour and immune status of piglets, pollution in seals and cormorants in relation to diet, rehabilitation of feral cats in relation to behaviour problems and hoof horn growth and moisture content in donkeys, mules and ponies.
The college has access to excellent facilities allowing assessment of animal behaviour and welfare of companion animals as well as the effect of production systems on behaviour and productivity of farmed livestock. Recent research carried out at the college includes enrichment projects, feed trials and nutritional analysis, microbiology and epidemiology studies.
Students are encouraged to participate in behavioural research projects including assessing management of captive animals in a zoo environment. There is also a strong emphasis on training projects in a wide range of species from rodents to reptiles to pigs. The college has developed strong links in relation to training techniques with the Army, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and Guide Dogs for the Blind amongst others
EQUINE
Man domesticated the horse some 5,000 years ago, and has since developed and shaped it to suit his purpose. In the developed world, the horse is used mainly for leisure and sport purposes, which stretch its capacity well beyond its natural evolution. The competition horse needs to be maintained in peak physical fitness, through an appropriate regime of management. Research and development into areas such as nutrition, training, fitness and therapy are essential if the horse is to work as an effective athlete. The equine industry is undergoing a period of strategic change, and it is critical that equine businesses are able to meet the challenge and move forward effectively. Research into areas such as diversification and business development is important to ensure that equine enterprises remain viable in a competitive environment.
Bishop Burton College has a superbly equipped equine centre, housing over 100 horses, including two indoor schools, horse handling area, horse walker, weigh bridge, treadmill and equine solarium. In addition well equipped science laboratories provide additional analytical support for microbiology and nutrition research (full range of feed analysis equipment) and also a variety of other essays and analytical techniques.
Bishop Burton underpins its degree teaching with reference to research, and equine students carry out applied equine research for their dissertations. Equine science students research aspects of equine nutrition, health and performance, and equine business students apply current management theory practice not only to the College’s own facilities, but also to a range of local equine enterprises, with which the College has developed strong links. Such research can not only help improve the management, training and welfare of horses but also the market success of equine businesses.
Bishop Burton College works in partnership with a number of other Universities including Hull and Leeds Metropolitan in developing its research work.
