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After a
few years there Thomas decided that what was needed was
a breed of cattle particularly bred for both tropical
conditions and maximum milk and meat production. With
this in mind he went to Canada where he
earned degrees in Agriculture from McGill University and
Animal Husbandry (honours) from Ontario Agricultural
College in Guelph.
He
returned in 1935 and started to put his ideas to the
test. In 1949 he compiled his research into a doctoral
thesis entitled "Genetic Improvement in Diary Cattle in
the Tropics" which he presented at the University of
Edinburgh to much acclaim. He was able to prove that
this was a new breed of cattle which did not reproduce
like crossbreeds or hybrids.
By
the early 1950s he had developed the Jamaica Hope bred
from Holstein, for milk production; the Jersey, compact
size and the Indian Sahiwal, tropical and disease
resistant. This led to the historic event at Bodles.
But
Dr Lecky had no intention of resting on his laurels. He
then turned his attention to developing beef cattle. He
particularly researched the Indian Brahmin which led to
the Jamaican Bramin. He discovered that the English Red, though
good meat producers were not resistant to tropical
climate and disease so he developed a mix of the
Jamaican Brahmin and the English Red which was called the
Jamaica Red, now the main beef cattle in Jamaica as well
as in other Caribbean and Latin American countries.
Still
not satisfied he now turned his attention to developing
a breed more suited to the cooler areas of the Island and
introduced the Jamaica Black which was a product of the
Jamaica Red and the Scottish Black Angus. This did not
become as popular as his other breeds as, although many
connoisseurs claim it is the finest beef in the world,
it did not prove to be as resilient as his previous
breeds.
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