SASAS Mission & Objectives
True to our slogan, Experiencia docet, our mission is to advance animal science and promote viable animal production systems, while sustaining natural resources and the environment and thereby to serve in the interests of human welfare. The emphasis and focus are on relevant issues pertaining to the southern African region. The scope of our interests includes all facets of the husbandry of farm livestock species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, ostriches and horses) including the products derived from them (meat, milk and dairy products, wool, mohair, leather and eggs) as well as relevant aspects of aquatic and wildlife species. The main disciplines of interest are nutrition, genetics, physiology, meat science, wool science and pasture science. Sociological and managerial aspects of well-defined livestock production and farming systems are also of interest.
The objectives of the Society are to promote animal science by:
- Ensuring that high standards of education, research, technology and science-based public policy are upheld with regard to animal production and animal products;
- Upholding professional integrity and ethical codes;
- Fostering the scientific interests and professional status of members;
- Organizing symposia on a regular basis;
- Publishing a scientific journal;
- Serving as mouthpiece on all matters relating to animal production and animal products in compliance with public welfare and general interests;
SASAS History – Summary
The South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) was formerly known as the South African Society of Animal Production (SASAP). The Society was founded on April 28, 1961. However, the idea of establishing a South African association was conceived some years before that, when the late Wim Verbeek and Danie Joubert (both Ph.D. students at the time) met in a tea room in Petty Cury Lane, Cambridge, on September 21, 1954. With the aid of the late Drs FN Bonsma and Gideon N Louw, the foursome formulated the first objectives and statutes and prepared the way that eventually lead to the foundation meeting.
Dr FN Bonsma was the first chairman of the Society and MJ Joubert the first honorary president. In 1962 Dr Danie Joubert became the first editor of the Society’s Proceedings which, in 1971, acquired the status of a professional journal entitled the South African Journal of Animal Science.
The professional interest of Animal Scientists has been a primary concern of the Society since its foundation. SASAP members were instrumental in the establishment of the Liaison Committee for Professional Societies concerned with Agriculture and the Joint Council of Scientific Societies, as well as in the establishment of the South African Council of Natural Scientists (currently known as the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions or SACNASP). Although the latter body registered animal scientists since 1982, it wasn’t until 1993 when a group of SASAS members founded the South African Association of Professional Animal Scientists, an association whose first concern is the professional interest of animal scientists and to ensure professional service to clients.
During 2000, the name of the Society was changed to the South African Society for Animal Science. During the same year, SASAS saw the birth of its website and the first issue of the electronic version of the South African Journal of Animal Science. “Going on-line” took our Journal to the world and resulted in a dramatic increase in our readership.
Yes, our Society has gone from strength to strength, but thanks to the excellent foundation work of a few men that had a vision back in the fifties, not much has changed in terms of our objectives and constitution. We honour their memory, we learn from their experience, and our slogan remains Experientia docet!
South African Journal of Animal Science
Volume 47, No 1 2017
02. Dead-in-shell positions of near-term Ostrich embryos
04. Evaluation of various feeding programmes on growth performance, carcass and meat qualities
10. Effects of drying procedures on chemical composition and nutritive value of alfalfa forage
Volume 46 No 4 2016
01. Exercise-induced maximum metabolic rate scaled to body mass
05. Growth differentiation factor 9 gene variants in Sudanese desert sheep ecotypes
07. Effects of types and doses of yeast on gas production and in vitro digestibility of diets
08. Productivity, chemical composition and ruminal degradability of irrigated Napier grass leaves
10. Mangosteen peel can reduce methane production and rumen biohydrogenation in vitro
11. Blood profiles of indigenous Pedi goats fed
12. Geographical influence of heat stress on milk production of Holstein dairy cattle on pasture
13. Effect of taurine and bile acid supplementation
Volume 46 No 3 2016
02. Effect of sow age on the apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients in the diet
03. Fatty acid profile and health lipid indices in the raw milk of ewes grazing part-time
04. Effects of dietary supplementation of Chinese herb medicine mixture
05. Ovulatory response and embryo quality in Katahdin ewes supplemented with palm oil
06. The response of broiler breeder hens to dietary balanced protein
07. Effects of Thymus vulgaris and Mentha pulegium on colour, nutrients and peroxidation of meat
08. Interactions of genotype, housing and dietary calcium
09. Effects of stocking density on growth performance, carcass grade and immunity of pigs
11. Effect of micronized zeolite addition to lamb
13. Pomegranate seed oil rich in conjugated linolenic acids reduces in vitro methane production
Volume 46 No 2 2016
01. Whey, molasses and exogenous enzymes of maize cobs
03. Effects of bacterial inoculation on the fermentation characteristics and aerobic stability – whole plant soybeans
04. Fatty acids, lipid and protein oxidation, metmyoglobin attributes of biceps femoris muscle
06. Effects of dietary inclusion of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics
07. Assessment of heavy metal contamination in raw milk for human consumption
09. Determining the frequencies of B1, B2, B3 and E alleles
10. Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes coding
13. Effects of melatonin implantation during the slow period of cashmere growth on fibre production
Volume 46 No 1 2016
01. Genomic study of the mammary gland in bovines acclimated to a tropical environment
02. Ensiling quality of maize as influenced by the addition of wet distillers grains with soluble
03. Age, lighting treatment, feed allocation and feed form influence broiler breeder feeding time
05. Effects of dietary oil sources and calcium
06. Microsatellite-based estimation of inbreeding level in sheep populations of small effective size
09. Effects of oregano essential oil and attapulgite on growth performance 1
0. Evaluation of the OvineSNP50 chip for use in four South African sheep breeds
11. Spirulina as a functional ingredient in broiler chicken diets
12. Dietary effects of buckwheat and black cumin seed on growth performance
Volume 45 No 3 2015
Fore more information please contact SASAS
Tell+27 12 420 6017
Fax: +27 12 420 3290