SAN ANGELO – Dr. Chris Lupton, project leader for animal fiber research at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center and head of the recently named Bill Sims Wool and Mohair Research Laboratory at San Angelo, retires effective Aug. 31.
Dr. Chris Lupton with Angora goat kid (Texas AgriLife Research photo)
“Dr. Lupton has been an integral part of this center and a leader in wool and mohair research for many years,” said Dr. John Walker, Texas AgriLife Research resident director of research at San Angelo.
“He is a strong advocate of the sheep and goat industry not only in West Texas, but on the national level as well. He will be sorely missed.”
Prior to accepting his current AgriLife Research appointment, Lupton served seven years as head of chemical processing laboratories with Texas Tech University’s Textile Research Center at Lubbock. He started with the textile center in 1974 as a postdoctoral research fellow and moved up the ranks to research associate and then to assistant head in 1975 before assuming the leadership role in 1977.
When he began his current position with AgriLife Research, he became responsible for planning and conducting a research program which included work with wool, mohair, cashmere, alpaca and other animal fibers.
He was tasked with providing information to increase profitability in animal fiber production through improved objective measurements, preparation, selection, feeding and management of sheep, Angora and cashmere goats, and alpacas by improving fiber quantity, quality and value, Walker said.
Lupton’s research efforts included support for sheep and goat performance testing programs, developing and evaluating new techniques for faster, less expensive ways to measure fleece and fiber characteristics, reducing wool and mohair fleece contamination, reducing kemp and improving the marketing of animal fibers.
Lupton has headed the the Bill Sims Wool and Mohair Research Laboratory located on the center grounds since the lab’s opening in 1985. The research laboratory equipment was moved to San Angelo after a U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service laboratory closed in Albany, California 1983.
The lab is the last such research lab operating full-time in the nation. Walker said Lupton was instrumental in having the facility renamed for retired Sen. Bill Sims last year. Sims is a longtime West Texas sheep and goat industry leader and past executive secretary of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association.
Lupton’s work will be continued by Faron Pfeiffer, his longtime AgriLife Research associate.
Lupton holds a bachelors of science degree and doctorate in textile chemistry from the University of Leeds, England. He has authored and co-authored numerous scientific journal articles based on his work at the center.
After retirement, Lupton and his wife Maggie, plan to remodel their home, spend more time with their family in the Austin area and travel throughout the U.S. and their native England.
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