Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare

The course aims to provide students with the theoretical and practical notions of animal husbandry through the framing of the various zootechnical production systems and the treatment of: a) the morphological and functional evaluation of animals; b) the farming technologies of pig and ruminant and c) the fundamentals of applied ethology and welfare of farm animals.

At the end of the course the student will have acquired knowledge and understanding of the main zootechnical systems concerning the breeding of dairy cattle, beef cattle and dairy goat, as well as the ability to apply this knowledge for their livestock management.
The student will have acquired knowledge and understanding in the morphological evaluation of animals and will be able to recognize the most important animal regions and identify the main defects of farmed animals. The student will also be able to learn about the main characteristics of the behavior of farm animals and the tools that can be used to study the behavior itself. It will be able to recognize practically the main welfare problems linked to the breeding, transport and slaughter of farm animals.