Animal Health and Welfare

On this page you will find information about studying in the area of animal health and welfare within the School of Environmental and Rural Science. Professor Bill McClymont, the founder of Rural Science at UNE in the early 1950s, was a veterinarian and animal health and welfare have always been an important component of Rural Science and Agriculture at UNE. Learn about animal health and welfare in an integrated way by undertaking the course most suited to you and benefit from interaction with one of the largest animal science groups in Australia. Study in Armidale and enjoy the high-quality facilities and lifestyle available here or study by distance education. We are one of Australia's largest providers of distance education in Agriculture, Animal Science and Rural Science.

Why Study Animal Health and Welfare at UNE?

While UNE does not offer a degree in Veterinary Science, it has a long history of teaching and research in the area of production animal health and welfare. Disease is one of the key environmental factors influencing animal production and wellbeing. In doing so it interacts in complex ways with other environmental influences and with the host animal genes. Our goal in teaching animal health and welfare at UNE is to help students understand these interactions and thus develop a holistic approach to maintaining animal health and wellbeing. Our teaching is mainly to students doing B.Rur.Sci., B. Animal Sci. and B.Ag. but students from many other degree strands are exposed to the basic principles of health and disease management in livestock. For those people with a special interest in this area specialisation can be pursued at Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Masters or PhD level.

Our teaching and research in this area is greatly facilitated by our rural location, access to UNE owned properties and an excellent Animal House facility, our close links with the livestock industry, our proximity and links to relevant institutions such as CSIRO Livestock Industries in Armidale, the excellent laboratory facilities we have at our disposal and the "systems" approach to understanding and evaluating agricultural enterprises which is characteristic of UNE.

The animal health and welfare group has a high level of research activity which is recognised within the University, Australia and beyond. Particular areas of strength are the control of gastrointestinal nematode parasites (worms) of grazing ruminants, and the management of a range of poultry diseases.

Units

ANPR211 - Animal Production Systems and Products
ANPR321 - Animal Function, Health and Welfare
ANPR315/415/ 515 - Constraints to Animal Production
ANPR417/517 - Disease and its Control in Animals
ANSC120 - Animals in Society
ANSC201 - Animal Structure and Function
ANSC304 - Animals and Us: Ethics and Welfare
ANSC314/514 - Animal Biosecurity

CANI300/400/500 - Working Canines
CANI310/410/ 510 - Wild Dog Ecology

ERS501 - Applied Research Skills in Environmental and Rural Science

SCI500 - Research Methods in the Sciences

Careers

These courses prepare students for careers in agriculture in general and specific topics within agriculture depending on the stream or electives selected. Students taking units in animal health and welfare typically go on to careers in the livestock, feed or pharmaceutical industries taking on technical, advisory, consulting or research roles depending on their orientation. Some go on to complete a Veterinary Science degree at another university offering this degree. Students with UNE agricultural degrees are sought after due to the breadth and depth of their training, their communication and practical problem-solving skills and have little difficulty obtaining work after graduation.

Partnerships, Networks and Industry Links
Facilities

Key facilities available for teaching and research in the areas of Animal Health and Welfare include:

  • Large, well equipped Animal House facilities on campus
  • Access to nearby university farms and feedlots
  • Access to small paddock and pen systems for replicated paddock scale studies
  • PC2 Isolator facility for infectious disease research
  • Well equipped laboratories for parasitology, immunology and molecular biology teaching and research in this area.

Chicken Isolator

Isolator facility for infectious disease research

Contacts

For general and administrative enquiries, AskUNE.

Enquiries about studying Animal Health and Welfare at UNE can be made to:

Professor Stephen Walkden-Brown
Room 3, Woolshed Building W49,
Animal Science,
School of Environmental and Rural Science,
University of New England,
Armidale NSW 2351,
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6773 5152
Mobile: +61 4 1310 7973
Fax: +61 2 6773 3922
email: swalkden@une.edu.au