Health, Welfare and Management

The environment of animals is continuously changing in many aspects (e.g. feed availability, temperature, presence of pathogens, social contacts). The animal itself is also continuously changing depending on e.g. stage of its life (e.g. suckling, weaned, growing, lactating, pregnant). Many processes in the animals need to respond to both these external and internal changes, e.g. adapting their behaviour, their energy metabolism, or immunological processes. Some questions that come up: do animals differ in their capacity to adapt to their environment, and if so, can animals 'learn' to adapt? Do you need to 'acquire' adaptive capacity in early life? If so, for which processes? Which changes in the environment or in life challenge this adaptive capacity? If adaptive capacity is limiting, what goes wrong? How to monitor animal health and physiology in different environments (e.g., herds, barns) and conditions (e.g., diseased, lactating)? The course deals with these aspects of the functioning of kept animals. As keeping animals comes with a responsibility to take good care of them, we also consider the ethical aspects of animal keeping.

• Explain the concept and relevance of adaptive capacity for the functioning of an animal

• Explain the physiological mechanisms that determine the functioning of animals, specifically young animals and lactating animals

• Explain the processes and factors that affect the social behaviour of animals

• Interpret scientific papers related to the discussed topics in lectures and for a position paper

• Evaluate the influence of management conditions (e.g. nutritional, thermal, social) on the physiological functioning and behaviour of animals

• Form and express an opinion in a position paper, on a topic related to the themes discussed

• Assignment essay (20%) Two page position paper. In case of a failed paper, students can hand in a revised version before the next re-sit period, which will be specified in the course guide
• Performance (0%) Peer review of draft position papers
• Written test with open questions (80%) Open book exam with open questions on the content of the lectures and studied papers of the latest academic year.

Immunology and Thermoregulation, Behavior/Endocrinology, Reproduction and Fertility.

• Handouts and scientific papers will be available during the course.