Systems Approach in Animal Sciences

The course gives an introduction into the systems approach and presents different methods to study animal production systems.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Be able to explain the systems approach with regard to sustainability assessment of livestock systems
• Apply statistical models to analyze characteristics of livestock farms
• Apply optimization models to study sustainable development options
• Be able to explain the value of qualitative research methods to analyze livestock farming systems
• Identify environmental, economic and social indicators in sustainability assessments
• Evaluate the sustainability performance of animal production systems with qualitative and quantitative methods