John ChurchProfessor | Faculty of Science | Cattle Research Chair
| Natural Resource Science
Email: jchurch@tru.ca
Phone:
250-828-5150
Interests
fatty acid and related nutritional composition of beef,
life cycle assessment and empirical measurement of greenhouse gas emissions from beef production,
precision ranching, remote sensing using unmanned aerial vehicles, virtual fencing
beef cattle welfare and optimization of beef cattle production
Research Interests
Dr. John Church is a Professor in Natural Resource Science at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia as well as TRU's BCIC Regional Innovation Chair in Cattle Industry Sustainability. Dr. Church earned his PhD in Agriculture from the University of Alberta, studying the effects of production practices on the behavior and management of cattle, elk and bison on farms. Dr. Church now leads a multidisciplinary research team at TRU dedicated to the exploration and invention of innovative practices and technologies leading to the sustainability and enhancement of the cattle and bison industry, rangelands, meat production and related products. The focus of Dr. Church's research program is on new opportunities for beef and bison producers in the areas of value-added and branded meat production, which includes human and environmental health. In addition, his research program is now using drones for Precision Ranching, with a goal towards improved management of both the animals and the land base they depend on.
Education
Dr. Church earned his PhD in Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science from the University of Alberta in 1997, studying the effects of production practices on the behaviour of ruminant animals. He holds a M. Sc in Biology from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia (1993), and a B. Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Alberta (1991).
Publications
J. Church, J. Galbraith, and P. Goddard (2024) Chapter 20: Bison and Deer Handling and Transport. In:
Livestock Handling and Transport 6th Edition. Edited by Temple Grandin. (In Press)
R. Vicentini, A.C Sant'Anna, W. M. Rauw, D. Moya, D., M. D. R. de Asua, J. S. Church and Y. R.
Montanholi (2024). Effects of time of day, visitor pressure and weather on the behaviour of captive
American bison Bison bison. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 12(4), 222-231.
M. Gegout, P.J. Adams, J.S. Church (2024) Effectiveness of optical, digital and hybrid zoom equipped
drones for use in reading livestock ear tags for individual animal identification. Drone Systems and
Applications, https://doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2023-0041
M.E. Lange, S.T. Clarke, V.R. Boras, C.L.J. Brown, G. Zhang, C.R. Laing, R.R.E. Uwiera, T. Montina, M.L.
Kalmokoff, E.N. Taboada, V.P.J. Gannon, G.A.S. Metz, J.S. Church and G.D. Inglis (2023) Commensal
Esherichia coli strains of bovine origin competitively mitigated Esherichia coli O157:H7 in a
gnotobiotic murine intestinal colonization model with or without physiological stress. Animals 13(16),
257; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13162577
I. Ocana-Rios, L. Okano, C .G. Figueroa, J. Urban, J.S. Church, F. Le Devedec, K.J. Urban, K.K. Donkor
(2022) An improved method for the determination of cannabidiol in topical products using
chromatography-mass spectrometry. Journal of Pharmacerutical and Biomedical Analysis. 217: 114840.
J.T. Mufford, M.W. Reudink, M. Rakobowchuck, C.N. Carlyle, and J.S. Church (2021). Using unmanned aerial
vehicles to record behavioral and physiological indicators of heat stress in cattle on feedlot and on
pasture. Canadian Journal of Animal Sciencehttps://doi.org/10.1139/CJAS-2020-0125
D.J. Hill, T. Pypker and J.S. Church (2019). Applications of Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Forest
Hydrology, Chapter 5 in Forest-Water Interactions, Editors Levia, D.F.,Carlyle-Moses, D. Lida, S.,
Michalizk, B., Nanko, K., Tischer, A. (Eds.) First Edition, Springer,480 p. ISBN 978-3-030-26085-9
J.T. Mufford, D.J. Hill, M. Paetkau, N. Flood and J.S. Church (2019). Use of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) and photogrammetric image analysis to quantify spatial proximity in beef cattle. Journal of
Unmanned Vehicle Systems. 7(3): 194-206.
F.C. Rioja-Lang, J.K. Galbraith, R.B. McCorkell, J.M. Spooner and J.S. Church (2019). Review of Priority
Welfare Issues of Commercially Raised Bison in North America. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 210:
1-8.
R. A. J. deBruyn, M. Paetkau, K. A. Ross, D. V. Godfrey, J.S. Church and C. Ross Friedman. (2018).
Themogenesis-triggered seed dispersal in dwarf mistletoe. Nature Communications 9, 16218.
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms 1628
D.J. Hill, C. Tarasoff, G. Whitworth, J. Baron, J.L. Bradshaw and J.S. Church (2017). Utility of
unmanned aerial systems for mapping invasive plant species: A case study of yellow flag iris (Iris
pseudacorus L.). International Journal of Remote Sensing, 38 8-10): 2029-2036
G. Regev-Shoshani, B. McMullin, N. Nation, J.S Church, C. Dorin, C. Miller. (2017). Non-inferiority of
Nitric Oxide Releasing Intranasal Spray Compared to Sub-therapeutic Antibiotics to Reduce Incidence of
Undifferentiated Fever and Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex in Low to Moderate Risk Beef Cattle
Arriving at Commercial Feedlot Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 138: 162-169.
D. Prema, J. Jensen, J. L. Pilfold, T. D. Turner, K. K. Donkor, B. Cinel and J. S. Church (2016). Rapid
determination of n-6 and n-3 fatty acid ratios in cereal grains and forages by 1HNMR Spectroscopy.
Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 96(5): 730-733, 10.1139/cjps-2015-0302
J.T. Mufford, M.J. Paetkau, N.J.Flood. G. Regev-Shoshani, C.C. Miller and J.S. Church* (2016) The
development of a non-invasive behavioural model of thermal heat stress in laboratory mice (Mus
musculus). Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 268: 189-195.
Employment History
Dr. John Church is an experienced researcher and previously was employed as a ranch manager with seven years of experience with the Alberta provincial government and five years of work experience in the livestock industry. Prior to joining the Alberta government, John was employed in the private sector for five years, as both an animal behavior consultant to the oil and gas industry, working primarily with elk and bison, and as a manager of a large ranching operation in southern Alberta where he actively raised many diverse species such as bison, elk, white-tailed deer and caribou and beef cattle. While managing an extensive ranching operation that was uniquely vertically integrated, Dr. Church was able to learn first hand the benefits of value chains within that industry, and the importance of environmental sustainability.
Courses Taught
NRSC 1110
ENVS 5000
AGSC 2200
NRSC 4140
ASUR 1040
RGEN 2060
Professional Affiliations
The British Columbia Institute of Agrologists
The International Society of Applied Ethology
Society for Range Management
Canadian Society of Animal Science
