Animal Products

Our textiles research is being used not only for clothes, but for filters, antiballistics, gaskets, insulation, upholstery, carpets, bedding, bandages and wound dressings.

We increase global demand for Australian wool by expanding wool's uses into new high-value technical markets, developing innovative products and using advanced genetics to grow better wool.

Australasia’s major science and agribusiness conference, being held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 28-30 October 2008, is expected to generate strong debate on the future for Trans-Tasman animal industries, in light of increasing global concern about food security.

CSIRO’s Dr Anthony Keyburn and Chris Cowled were among the winners at the Smart Geelong Network’s Researcher of the Year Awards dinner on Saturday 16 August.

Australasia’s major livestock industries’ science and agribusiness conference – Horizons in Livestock Sciences – will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 28-30 October 2008.

Using leading-edge breeding and production technologies to boost the value, competitiveness and sustainability of Australia’s beef and seafood industries.

CSIRO provides diagnostic services, surveillance and the capability to respond to the risk posed by emerging and exotic animal diseases.

Better understanding of the sheep genetics, chemistry and surface properties of wool fibres are the goals of CSIRO’s fundamental wool research.

Demand for CSIRO’s pesticide residue testing service is expanding as woolgrowers and brokers prepare for tougher environmental requirements in Europe.

This video animation, produced by CSIRO, looks at the various elements of the wool fibre and the properties that each part contributes to wool's usefulness. (3:30)

Dr Charles Claudianos talks about the results of an international effort to sequence the honey bee genome in this four-minute podcast.

Two new CSIRO technologies that improve the convenience and comfort of wool clothing could soon be in a store near you: QuickDry Merino which has the drying time of polyester and Active-wear Merino fabric which feels drier and cooler during exercise.

By studying wool’s complex arrays of natural nanofibres, Dr Tony Pierlot hopes to develop new technical applications, which will generate sustained demand for Australian wool.

This article from Farming Ahead discusses research that has revealed that muscling, a trait that Merino breeders have largely overlooked, can help breeders develop a more versatile and profitable flock. (2 pages)

General information on the processing of leather at tanneries from the removal of flesh and hair, through the tanning process to the finishing of leather. (3 pages)