Genetics scientist Ken Dodds recognised for outstanding contribution to animal improvement

AgResearch Invermay principal scientist Ken Dodds was named a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics, in Perth last month. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

The accolades continue for a long-serving southern scientist for his work supporting animal breeding and genetics.

AgResearch Invermay principal scientist Dr Ken Dodds, of Mosgiel, was named a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics for his outstanding contributions to the science of genetics and animal improvement at a ceremony in Perth last month.

“I was pretty proud - it’s recognition your colleagues respect and value you.”

Last year, the statistical geneticist was awarded the Jones Medal for a lifetime achievement in pure or applied mathematics or statistics.

DDodds said his father Ian ran a Friesian stud on the family dairy farm between Gore and Mataura, which sparked his interest in animal breeding and genetics during the early days of artificial insemination.

After finishing at Gore High School, he graduated with a degree in mathematics and statistics at the University of Otago in Dunedin in 1982.

He then completed his doctorate in statistical genetics at North Carolina State University.

After returning from the United States, he began working at AgResearch Invermay, near Mosgiel, in 1986 and has been there ever since.

“I enjoy the math side of things and from being from a farm I have an interest in the industries and making a difference for them.”

At Invermay, he analysed genotypes from animals’ DNA to create genomic predictions to help farmers make better-informed breeding decisions.

A DNA sample could be collected from an animal when a hole was punched in its ear when it was being tagged.

The genotypes allowed a scientist to work out an animal’s relatedness to its grandparents to create estimated breeding values for a range of traits to be listed in an index to rank its ability to meet a breeding objective.

Animals he had studied included cattle, deer, fish, goats and sheep.

Since the salmon industry was launched in New Zealand, he has been crunching data for fish farmers to improve traits such as flesh quality, growth and maturation.

In the early days, managers of the salmon farms would query if the genetic data being used for selection was improving the quality of fish until it became evident it was.

“After about 10 years they stopped asking, they could see it themselves.”

AgResearch Invermay principal scientist Ken Dodds, with his wife Fiona and daughter Olivia, received the Jones Medal in Dunedin last year.

The results of selecting better genetics had been “spectacular” across a range of animals.

“The animals on farms today are a lot more productive than they were 30 or 40 years ago.”

Beef+Lamb NZ livestock genetics specialist and association president Jason Archer, of Dunedin, said Dodds had made a very significant contribution to New Zealand’s sheep industry.

“He has been a driving force behind our sheep genetics and genomics programme for many years.

“Ken’s work may not be well known to sheep breeders, but many of the technologies they use have Ken’s work behind them, including DNA parentage analysis as well as genomic estimation of breeding values.

“Ken’s award as a fellow of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics is a well-deserved recognition for his outstanding contribution to animal breeding.”