Johannes Jaeger

Johannes Jaeger (born June 24, 1897 in Kollin , Krs. Pyritz , Pomerania; † January 1, 1972 , in Halle (Saale) ) was a German agricultural scientist in the field of poultry farming.

Live and act

Johannes Jaeger was born in Kollin, Pyritz district, Stettin district in the Prussian province of Pomerania, the son of a farmer. After graduating from high school, he began studying agriculture at the University of Jena . Because of his father's illness, he had to interrupt his training after three semesters, was only able to continue it in 1926 and graduate in 1927 as a qualified farmer. On April 1, 1929, he became an assistant at the teaching and research institute for poultry breeding in Halle-Cröllwitz (actually written as Kröllwitz since 1815 ), which had existed since 1901 as the State Central Poultry Breeding Institute and was subordinate to the Chamber of Agriculture for the Province of Saxony . The place Kröllwitz lies west of the Saale opposite the castle Giebichenstein and was incorporated into the city of Halle in 1900. The institution was located at Dölauer Straße 21 between the Saale and Dölauer Heide .

Jaeger passed the exam as an animal breeding inspector in 1930. In March 1933 he succeeded Alfred Beeck and Richard Römer as director of the research institute, which was now subordinate to the state farming community of Saxony-Anhalt with the Halle-Merseburg district . During the Second World War, there were heavy air raids on Halle from July 1944, with damage to the facility. That is why the institution was immediately relocated about 20 kilometers northwest to Merbitz im Saalkreis (between Nauendorf and Löbejün with the train station in Nauendorf). After the end of the Second World War, it was called the State Institute for Small Animal Breeding and was subordinated to the newly formed state of Saxony-Anhalt in 1947 . A significant expansion of buildings and facilities as well as herdbook breeding with chickens took place on the areas of the Merbitz teaching and experimental farm . From 1954 there was the chicken performance test. A new model facility for poultry was built, in particular to carry out research on the keeping of laying hens and the rearing of chicks. In 1960 it was subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Registration and Forestry of the GDR in Berlin as an Institute for Poultry Management, with the further research focus on breeding, keeping and feeding of poultry in larger flocks. This also applied to the preparation of hybrid programs for laying chickens.

On November 15, 1962, Jaeger retired after almost 30 years as head of the institute, but was still appointed director of the affiliated technical school and professor. He died at the turn of the year 1971/72 in Halle.

Focus

• Commercial poultry species as the main subject
• Breeding, rearing and keeping of poultry
• Feeding trials on farm poultry
• Performance test in geese and chickens
• Continuation of the breeding work on the Cröllwitz turkeys as a special breed
• Diverse publications in annual reports, specialist journals and books
• Long-term collaboration with the Berlin specialist publisher Fritz Pfenningstorff
• Supervision of local and central poultry shows
• Implementation of courses for specialist staff
• Publication of the Kröllwitzer reports, later the Merbitzer reports
• Lectures on small animal breeding in the agricultural studies at the University of Halle

Volunteering

• Chairman for agricultural poultry at special and central animal shows (between 1950 and 1960 several times in Leipzig-Markkleeberg - "agra of the GDR")

Honor

• 1957 Honored Breeder
• 1962 title of professor

Publications (selection)

• Report on a goose performance test in Halle-Cröllwitz. In: Archiv für Geflügelkunde, Jg. 1935, H 11/12, 329–343
• Feeding experiments on the use of oats as grain feed for laying hens. Berlin: Fritz Pfenningstorff, 1935, 157–163
• Guide to natural and artificial chick rearing. Berlin, 1941 2nd edition, 66 pages; Small animal breeding library: Vol. 6
• Rural poultry farming. Berlin 1937, 90 pp.
• Guide to natural and artificial chick rearing. Stuttgart 1949, 53 p., 1951 and Neumann 1949, 1951, 51 p.
• The farm poultry. Berlin: Deutscher Bauernverlag, 1957, 343 pp.
• Raising laying hens without a run. With Horst Hattenhauer. Berlin, 1960, 135 pp.
• Experimental work at the Institute for Poultry Production in Merbitz from September 30, 1957 to August 1, 1961. For the 60th anniversary of the institute. Ed. J. Jaeger, Halle 1961
• Annual reports 1956 to 1963

literature

• Gerber, Theophil: Personalities from agriculture and forestry, horticulture and veterinary medicine - Biographisches Lexikon. NORA Berlin, 4th ext. Edition, 2014, 335
• Address books of the city of Halle (Saale)
• Catalogs of the agricultural exhibitions of the GDR 1950 to 1960 in Leipzig-Markkleeberg
• Pingel, Heinz: Institute for poultry farming Merbitz. In: Animal breeding in the GDR and in the new federal states. DGfZ publication series special issue 1, Bonn 2007, section 3.3.5, pages 178–181

Individual evidence