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Livestock information and animal production specialist |
James Hanks graduated in Agriculture in 1980. Following two years in Africa
with VSO he completed a Masters in Tropical Agricultural Development at
VEERU in 1983. He has been closely associated with VEERU since then, working
in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. He is currently a Visiting
Research Fellow and was awarded a PhD in 1993.
Throughout his career, James has specialised in the use of livestock
information. This has involved the development of practical information
systems resulting in greater uptake of information by farmers and livestock
services. These systems have ranged from herd management programs through
laboratory information to national disease reporting systems. A system
initiated on a veterinary epidemiology project in Colombia resulted in the
development of the InterHerd package that is now in extensive use in
Colombia and the market leader on farms in the United Kingdom. James is a
regular contributor to VEERU courses on the use of information and is also a
director of PAN Livestock Services Limited.
In
recent years James has worked on greater integration of information in the
working practices of veterinarians and farmers, particularly in the United
Kingdom. Working closely with Europe’s largest milk recording organisation,
National Milk Records (NMR), this is
resulting in significant changes to the working methods of technical
advisers in the UK. He is closely involved in the development of novel
information systems, both on-farm and over the internet, that are providing
transparency for the farmer and technical adviser with unprecedented volumes
of information. James regularly advises and trains farmers and their
advisers in the uptake of new working practices that allow effective
monitoring and benchmarking of performance as well as detailed
investigation.
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