-
- Main Articles Listing:
Animal Sciences
-
-
- 3. Parker Agricultural Research Complex
- The environmental factors that affect reproduction in farm animals are being studied at the UA Agricultural Research Complex (ARC).
Completion of the laboratory portion in the highly technical, state-of-the-art facility allows faculty and students to better understand how animals respond to desert conditions.
The research complex was recently named after William J. Parker, who moved to the United States from Ireland in 1921. His family operated dairies in Arizona and California under Shamrock Dairy.
The Parker Dairy moved to Congress, AZ in 1989. Parker's son, Jim, says one reason the family wanted to name the facility after their father is because of their desire to leave a lasting legacy and because the UA helped the family to be successful in their business.
Because the whole Parker family grew up farming they wanted to support the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as well as the entire dairy and agricultural industry.
Over the years, Jim Parker has felt that he has gotten a lot out of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension including the research on colostrum by Jerry Stadt and the research by Ed Monty on early embryonic death loss, which has helped him to improve the family business.
Contact with people like Dennis Armstrong, who he regards as the foremost expert in dairy mechanization in the world, have also helped the dairy to improve. On a personal note, he believes that his involvement in 4-H and being able to take classes through extension has helped him to develop his own ability as a farmer.
He says, "This is a way of paying back not just to the university and my family but also to the state of Arizona, and the agricultural industry which has benefited his family for generations."
A dedication for the support of the Parker family was held in October.
Colin Kaltenbach, Arizona Experiment Station - Updated: January 5, 2007
-
-
[e-Mail me the articles] -
[Search our articles]
- [contact
us ]
|
