Professor J.A.F. Rook instigated a reorganisation of the Institute following the retiral of Dr Smith in 1970. This reflected a need for research to be directed more towards the solution of industrial problems. Three specialist departments (Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physiology) were given responsibility for research into scientific problems of importance to either milk production or milk utilization. A fourth, Applied Studies Department, was given the wider role of conducting research with well defined practical objectives while at the same time assisting the three specialist departments with the practical exploitation of their research findings. The name of the Institute was changed to The Hannah Research Institute for Studies Relating to the Production and Utilization of Milk – no short, punchy acronyms in those days!
The three main areas of research at this time were thus:
- the
efficient production of nutrients and their utilization
by dairy cattle
- the
chemistry and physical chemistry of milk constituents,
especially protein, in relation to the nutritive role
and processing characteristics of milk
- the effect
of environment on the physiology of cattle. Towards the
end of the 1970s this research expanded into the area
of climate-related aspects of animal productivity and
included studies in thermoregulation; metabolic
response to cold; biology of the skin of cattle.
In 1977 the BBC transmitted a film on silage making at the Institute with contributions from Hannah staff.
Integrating the research of the Chemistry department with the work of the Applied Studies department established a better understanding of the relationship between the diet of the cow, milk composition and the manufacturing properties of the milk. Dietary manipulation produced a butter having good spreadability characteristics at refrigeration temperature.
In November 1979 the Institute was approached by a distilling company which wished to introduce a cream-based whisky liqueur onto the market but lacked the necessary scientific and technical knowledge for the formulation of the cream base. Experiments confirmed that the temperature instability of cream liqueur was related to the presence of milk serum components and, by the addition of a stabiliser, a formulation was obtained that met the criteria for stability required by the distillers and allowed commercial production to begin.
In 1981, Malcolm Peaker succeeded John Rook as director of the Institute and there followed a reorganisation of departments:
-
Animal Nutrition and Production
- To
establish a basis for the development of integrated
crop production and animal production systems
offering optional farming strategies to meet market
requirements for milk
-
Chemistry and Physics of Milk
- The
partitioning of milk protein between soluble and
colloidal phases under different conditions and the
implications of this for processing
- The
chemical nature of milk proteins and the types of
reaction caused by processing (eg heating)
- The
physical chemistry of milk constituents and the
interactions between them
-
Lipid Biochemistry and Enzymology
- Biochemical factors
governing the supply of nutrients, especially
lipids, to the mammary gland and thence into milk
-
Milk Untilisation
- Applied
research related to the manufacture of milk
products
-
Director’s Group
- The
study of mammary physiology: the control of the
number and activity of mammary cells in relation to
the factors determining milk yield and the cellular
mechanisms of milk secretion