Research interests

• Animal Systems Modelling
• Decision Support Tools
• Phenotypic prediction of carcass characteristics in beef cattle
• Fat deposition modelling in beef cattle
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Delivery of workshops for Drought assistance
• Dynamic models for livestock production
• Statistical techniques in building mathematical models

Background

Malcolm McPhee is a lead researcher in the phenotypic prediction program of the CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies. His experience in modelling fat deposition and distribution in beef cattle has led to the development of a decision support tool called BeefSpecs.

He joined NSW Agriculture* in 1991 as a livestock research officer and has developed mathematical models and decision support systems for the sheep and beef industries. He has over 19 years scientific research experience in agriculture, and has played a lead role in the development and delivery of 4 decision support tools: SheepO (version 4.0), PRO Plus (version 2.0), StockPlan (version 3.0), and BeefSpecs (Beta version 1.14). He has written over 60 scientific papers, half of which are peer-reviewed publications.

He is currently a Senior Research Scientist and located at the Industry & Investment NSW Beef Industry Centre of Excellence, Armidale.

*The former NSW Department of Primary Industries became a part of Industry & Investment NSW on July 1, 2009.

Qualifications

• M.E.C. (Mechanical) - Sydney Technical College NSW (1982)
• B.App.Sc. (Mathematics) - University of Technology NSW (1982)
• M.Stat. (Masters of Statistics) - University of Wollongong NSW (1995)
• PhD. Nutritional Biology. University of California, Davis, USA (2006)

Current projects

• Phenotypic prediction of beef cattle.
• Assisting beef producers meet carcass specifications.
• Development of BeefSpecs a decision support tool to predict P8 fat (mm).
• Parameterization of fat deposition models using acslXtreme.
• Development of a Bos Indicus model for predicting total body fat.
• StockPlan - a worshop to assist producers make management decision in dry spells or in drought. 
• Inventory of green house gases for the sheep Industry.  

Recent Publications

Walmsley BJ, Wolcott ML, and McPhee MJ (2010) Modelling the relationship between scanned rump and twelfth-rib fat in young temperate and tropical bovines: Model development and evaluation. Journal of Animal Science. (In Press).

McPhee MJ, Whelan MB, Davies BL, Meaker GP, Graham P, Carberry PM (2010) A workshop and software package to reduce environmental and financial impacts – StockPlan. Environmental Modelling & Software (In Press).

Mckiernan WA, McPhee MJ, Walmsley BJ, Oddy VH (2009) Beef CRC BeefSpecs Calculator. In Proceedings of the NSW Sheep and Beef Conference. 24-25 November.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, Mayer DG, Sainz RD (2009) Parameter estimation and sensitivity analysis of fat deposition models in beef steers using acslXtreme. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation. 79: 2701-2712.

McPhee MJ (2009) Mathematical Modelling in Agricultural Systems: a case study of modelling fat deposition in beef cattle for research and industry. In 18th International Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS) World congress, Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM) 09, Cairns, Australia, July 13-17, 13 pages. (Invited Agricultural Systems keynote address).

McPhee MJ, Walmsley BJ, Sainz RD and Oddy VH (2009) Parameterization of different breeds of cattle and the future development of the Davis growth model. In 7th International Workshop: “Modelling Nutrition Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals”, Paris, France, September 10-12, 1 page abstract.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen WJ, Fadel JG, Perry D, and Sainz RD (2008) Development and evaluation of empirical equations to interconvert between twelfth-rib fat and kidney, pelvic, and heart fat weights and to predict initial conditions of fat deposition models for beef cattle. Journal of Animal Science. (in press)

McPhee MJ, Hopkins DL and Pethick DW (2008) Intramuscular fat levels in sheep muscle during growth. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48: 904-909.

Hoffman WD, Mckiernan WA, Oddy VH and McPhee MJ (2008) Commercial testing of a new tool for prediction of fatness in beef cattle. In: 2008 Agribusiness Livestock Updates, The University Club of WA

McKiernan WA, Oddy VH and McPhee MJ (2008) A new tool for prediction of fatness in beef cattle. In: 2008 Agribusiness Livestock Updates, The University Club of WA

StockPlan, version 2.0. 2008. Software user manual of Drought Pack, FSA Pack, and ImPack a subset of the StockPlan workshop manual. NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Dobos RC, McPhee MJ, McKiernan WA and Oddy VH (2008) A tool for the prediction of fat thickness in beef cattle. In: Proceedings of the 27th Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production, Brisbane, Queensland. p 42.

Mayer DG, Rossing WAH, deVoil P, Groot JCJ, McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW (2008) Success in evolutionary computation. In: A. Yang and Y. Shan (eds.) Optimal management of agricultural systems. p 141-164. Springer,Berlin.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen WJ, Fadel JG, Perry D, and Sainz RD (2008) Inter-conversion equations between fat thickness and subcutaneous fat. In: Proceedings of the 27th Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production, Brisbane, Queesnsland. p 45.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG and Sainz RD (2008) A research tool for modelling fat deposition and distribution in beef steers. In: Proceedings of the 27th Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production, University of Queensland, Brisbane. p 44.

Hopkins DL, McPhee MJ and Pethick DW (2007) Intramuscular fat levels in sheep muscle during growth. In: EAAP Annual meeting 2007, Dublin, Ireland. p 269.

Mayer DG, McPhee MJ, Oddy VH, Kinghorn BP and Oltjen JW (2007) Evolutionary computation targeting market fat specifications in beef steers. In: MODSIM 2007 International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. p 81-87.

McPhee MJ, Meaker G, Graham P, Carberry PM, Davies BL, Whelan MB (2007) StockPlan: decision support tools for exploring management options for drought. Journal of Animal Science 85, 25.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, Mayer DG, and Sainz RD (2007) Parameter estimation of fat deposition models in beef steers. In: MODSIM 2007 International congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling Society of Australia and New Zealand. p 115-120.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, Perry D, and Sainz RD (2007) Simulation model of fat deposition and distribution in beef steers: Conversion of fat thickness to kilograms of fat. In: Adapting to the changing environment. NSW DPI Beef Industry Conference, Hawke's Nest

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, and Sainz RD (2007) Model of fat deposition and distribution in beef steers. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 84: 649.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, Perry D, and Sainz RD (2007) Simulation model of fat deposition and distribution in beef steers: 1. Empirical models converting fat thickness to subcutaneous fat and KPH to visceral fat. Journal of Animal Science 85: 543.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, and Sainz RD (2007) Simulation model of fat deposition and distribution in beef steers: 2. Empirical models to initialize fat deposition models. Journal of Animal Science 85: 544.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, and Sainz RD (2007) Simulaiton model fo fat deposition and distribution in beef steers: 3. Model description and development. Journal of Animal Science 85: 609.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Fadel JG, and Sainz RD (2007) Simulation model of fat deposition and distribution in beef steers: 4. Model evaluation. Journal of Animal Science 85: 609.

McPhee MJ (2006) Modeling fat deposition and distribution in beef cattle, PhD Thesis, University of California, Davis, USA.

McPhee MJ, Meaker G, Bell AK, Davies L, and Carberry P (2006) Stockplan® NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, NSW.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Famula TR, and Sainz RD (2006) Factors affecting carcass characteristics. California Cattleman 89: 30-31.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, Famula TR, and Sainz RD (2006) Meta-analysis of factors affecting carcass characteristics of feedlot steers. Journal of Animal Science 84: 3143-3154.

McPhee MJ, Oltjen JW, and Sainz RD (2006) A meta-analysis study on the effect of maturity and implant status on carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science 84: 13.

Professional associations and activities

• International Modelling and Simulation Society (MODSIM).
• Australian Society of Animal Production (ASAP).
• American Society of Animal Science (ASAS).

Fields of Research

• 070203 Animal Management
• 070202 Animal Growth and Development
• 010202 Biological Mathematics

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Keyword/phrase list of research interests

• Animal systems modelling
• Animal growth
• Decision support tools
• Phenotypic prediction
• Greenhouse gas emissions