They will be familiarized with the history of the animal welfare movement, including its effect on producers and consumers of animal products. The course will emphasize the techniques of assessment of animal well-being and review legal requirements and voluntarily accepted codes for sound animal care and safe animal handling. The application of recombinant DNA techniques to animal science, including the production from cloned genes of products of value to the livestock industry, the incorporation of marker-assisted selection and of transgenic livestock animals into animal breeding strategies, sexing techniques, and the genetic manipulation of gut and rumen microflora. The course deals with why farm animals behave as they do with reference to causation, function, ontogeny and phylogeny. Basic principles are illustrated by examples taken from all the common agricultural species.
Emphasis is placed on the application of behavioural knowledge to improve animal production systems.
Designing housing, facilities and management procedures to suit the behaviour of the animals in question is also dealt with. The course will review the physics of heat flow, light and air quality as they relate to animal biology and health. Other aspects such as the physical environment that impact on animal health and well-being will be discussed. The course supplies basic knowledge to aid in the explanation of reproductive phenomena in domestic animals. Special attention will be given to the regulatory mechanisms of male and female fertility.