Postgraduate
Livestock Health and Production
(MSC, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate)
Syllabuses
Animal
disease (Current concepts) [Course code 667 0001]
This course will enable the student
to appreciate the external and internal components of health,
agents of disease and how animals respond to them, at an
individual and population level. Subject areas: immunology;
parasitology; microbiology; introduction to veterinary
epidemiology; principles of veterinary pathology.
Developing and monitoring of livestock production systems [Course
code 667 0003]
This course will adopt a farming systems approach to permit the
student to place livestock production within the context of the
utilisation of resources. This will allow a critical consideration
of appropriate husbandry for different animals in diverse
environmental and socio-economic conditions. Subject areas: An
introduction to farming systems; Details of major livestock
production systems; Developing and monitoring of functioning
livestock systems with farmers, including organic farming;
Environmental, welfare and breeding issues in sustainable livestock
husbandry.
Principles of livestock production [Course code 667 0002]
This course will enable the student
to understand how feeding, breeding, management and interaction with
the environment influence animal production and disease. Subject
areas: general principles of nutrition; specialised areas of
nutrition (students will select three of the following options which
must include at least one ruminant and one non-ruminant choice:
feeding dairy cows; feeding dual-purpose, beef and draught cattle;
feeding sheep and goats; pig nutrition; poultry nutrition; nutrition
of horses, camelids and rabbits. In all the above cases,
consideration will be given to the different resources available in
temperate and tropical/subtropical regions); environmental studies,
including climatic effects and housing; genetics; the physiology of
growth and lactation; the relevance of reproduction to livestock
production.
Optional courses
Animal welfare [Course code 667 0016]
This course will provide a comprehensive appreciation of welfare and
ethical issues connected with farm animal practice, animal breeding,
transport and slaughter, companion animals, laboratory animals,
animals used in competition and wildlife. Subject areas: An
introduction to veterinary ethics; the physiology of pain, distress,
fear and anxiety; the effects of genetics on animal welfare; welfare
issues in animal husbandry systems; transport and slaughter; and
specific welfare issues in companion, farmed, laboratory, wild and
competitive animals.
Epidemiology and animal health economics [Course code
667 0004]
This course will enable students to understand the role of
epidemiology and economics in the design and delivery of effective
veterinary services aimed at improved animal health and
productivity. Subject areas: introduction to statistics;
introduction to veterinary epidemiology - basic principles,
descriptive epidemiology, study design, sampling, quantitative
aspects of diagnostic testing; animal health economics - principles,
partial budgets, decision tree analysis, cost-benefit ratio,
economics and project planning.
Economics for livestock development and policy [Course code 667
0011]
The objectives of this course are to stimulate awareness of the
socio-economic, political and environmental issues that will affect
future livestock development and to provide the tools to analyse the
issues confronting producers, their advisers, planners and policy
makers. Subject areas: Basic concepts of the economics of livestock
production; Extensive, medium intensity and intensive systems of
livestock production; Marketing and policy; Further economics for
the analysis of livestock development; Tools for livestock
economists.
Management of infectious disease outbreaks in animal populations
[Course code 667 0017]
This course is designed to teach both
the theoretical and practical information required for the
management of a major infectious disease outbreak of farm animals.
Topics will include epidemiology of infectious viral diseases, risk
and cost-benefit analysis, surveillance, diagnosis and vaccination
strategies before and during an outbreak, contingency planning and
case studies to illustrate how disease outbreaks could be better
managed.
Reproduction and fertility - a species approach [Course code 667
0009]
This course will enable students to
gain a comprehensive insight into the physiology of reproduction and
the management and manipulation of fertility to optimise animal
productivity. Subject areas: general principles of reproduction;
introduction to reproductive anatomy and physiology; control of
breeding; fertilisation, conception and pregnancy; reproductive
disorders and disease; embryo transfer and assisted reproduction;
reproduction management. Students will be required to specialise in
three of the following: cattle; small ruminants; pigs; camelids,
rabbits and poultry; equids.
Research design, management and grant application writing
[Course code 667 0014]
This course will enable students to
undertake a research project, with an appropriate study design to
validate a hypothesis and analyse the data, including the
presentation of results and writing a grant application. Subject
areas: introduction to scientific research and how to formulate a
hypothesis; literature search, critical analysis of papers and
writing a scientific review; experimental and statistical design in
project planning; project management; preparing data for analysis -
qualitative data, quantitative data; statistical analysis and
analysing the validity of findings; report writing, presentation of
data and writing a scientific paper; introduction to grant
application writing, planning the project and budget; guidelines to
writing a good grant proposal.
Sustainable livestock farming in the environment [Course code 667
0020]
This new course aims to provide an
understanding of the threats presented by changes in the environment
on livestock production and wildlife population, and explains the
ways in which global and regional environmental change can impact on
sustainability of farming systems, conservation of ecosystems and
animal health. It will outline approaches that can used to minimize
unwanted environmental impacts of modern farming and land use
systems, as well as consider the values academics, researchers,
veterinarians and livestock specialists attach to the environment
and to conservation issues. The course will also guide students in
the approach they take in future when considering animal-environment
interactions.
Veterinary public health [Course code 667 0006]
The course will examine the role of
veterinarians and other related professionals in the protection of
human health through the safe production of foods of animal origin,
control of zoonotic disease and environmental contamination. Subject
areas: disease surveillance and risk analysis; zoonoses and their
control; disseminating information on veterinary public health;
quality and safety assurance in food production (meat, milk and
eggs); development of disease control programmes.
Research project in livestock health and production [Course code 667
0200]
The research project is an optional
component and it is strongly recommended that you complete the
optional course Research design, management and grant application
writing before undertaking a research project as part of your MSc.
In choosing to carry out a research project you take the opportunity
to conduct an investigation on a subject of your own choice, within
the topics of the MSc. This option will provide an important,
qualitatively different addition to your academic experience as a
postgraduate student.
The overall
objectives of the project are:
-
to introduce you
to methods of scientific investigation
-
to train you in
the critical evaluation of the scientific literature
-
to enable you to
acquire experience in the preparation of a scientific report.
