Donald Shaver

Donald McQueen Shaver was a pioneering Canadian animal geneticist whose work had an immense global impact on protein nutrition and food security. Founding Shaver Poultry Breeding Farms in Galt, Ontario, after serving as an armored officer in World War II, Shaver applied quantitative genetics and strict biometric selection to poultry breeding.

In 1954, he introduced the Shaver Starcross 288, an extraordinarily efficient egg-laying hen that became the most widely distributed commercial layer in world history, operating in over ninety countries. Shaver dedicated his later years to heritage livestock preservation and food distribution in developing nations, recognized as an Officer of the Order of Canada.