|
|
UK Swine Nutritionist Receives National Acclaim
By
Aimee Nielson
 LEXINGTON,
Ky., (June 6, 2007) – For decades, Gary Cromwell has loaned his
swine nutrition expertise to the University of Kentucky College
of Agriculture. Recently Cromwell received a national award for
his efforts in teaching and research.
The National Hog Farmer magazine named Cromwell as the 2007
Master Swine Nutritionist, a prestigious award that recognizes
the nation’s best in the swine industry.
Cromwell has seen a lot of change in the swine industry during
his tenure at UK. Hailing from Salina, Kan., he made his way to
Kentucky in 1967 after accepting an assistant professorship.
Back then, Cromwell thought he would stay a few years; get his
feet wet and then head back to Kansas. Turns out, he liked the
Bluegrass enough to stay – 40 years this month.
Currently Cromwell is the leader of UK’s Swine Research Group.
He’s active in teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses
in swine nutrition and management, and he also serves as the
coordinator for the UK Feed Processing Center.
Cromwell’s research emphasis is in mineral bioavailability and
requirements, amino acid requirements, evaluation of feed
ingredients, modifying diets to make manure more environmentally
friendly and efficacy and safety of feed additives. He’s also
been a big defender of the benefits of antibiotics for pigs.
 “Forty
years ago when I started, antibiotics were under pressure, and
many thought that we were going to lose antibiotics. Well, that
didn't happen. But there probably is more pressure today than
there ever has been,” he said. “But the facts are still there
that antibiotic resistance in people hasn't really changed that
much. A lot of the problems that we see in humans some try to
tie to antibiotic use in animals, but it hasn't been
documented.”
The National Hog Farmer award is not the first time Cromwell has
been in the national spotlight for his work. He was the chair of
the National Research Council's Committee on Animal Nutrition
from 1979 to 2002; the chair of an NRC subcommittee that
prepared the 10th edition of Nutrient Requirements of Swine,
last published in 1998; the chair of the Federation of Animal
Science Society Food Safety, Animal Health and Animal Drugs
Committee and its forerunner, the American Society of Animal
Science Regulatory Agencies Committee. Cromwell also served as a
non-ruminant section editor for the Journal of Animal Science
and as the president of the American Society of Animal Science
in 1989-1990.
Cromwell said he won’t be ready to retire for a few years yet
and sees many opportunities and challenges still before him.
“We wean nearly twice as many pigs as we did years ago, and pigs
are weaned at much younger ages,” he said. “Pigs now reach 40
pounds in six weeks. It used to be if you had an 8-9-week-old
pig weigh 40 pounds, you were doing pretty good. And market
weights have escalated from 180 to 220 pounds to an average of
about 270 pounds. Pigs at that weight can still be quite lean.”
Still, Cromwell confessed that he holds teaching very dear in
his accomplishment-filled career. He said graduate students are
coming to him now with more technical experience, but fewer
agricultural roots and that is a new challenge for him as an
instructor. Many students Cromwell has advised through the years
are now retired, but he plans to keep teaching for a few more
years.
Other awards Cromwell has received through the years are:
American Society of Animal Science Morrison Award; ASAS American
Feed Industry Association Nutrition Award; ASAS Animal Industry
Service Award; ASAS Fellow; UK College of Agriculture
Outstanding Faculty Award for graduate student training and
Purdue University Animal Sciences Department distinguished
alumnus for lifetime achievement. |
Contact: Gary Cromwell, 859-257-7534
|
|
The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
Questions/Comments,
e-mail the
webmaster
Copyright © 2001-2006 University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture,
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
News Home
Other Headlines This Week
More
News
RSS Now Available
for those
using news aggregation programs
College News
|
