| Module |
Topic |
| Week 1 |
Defining animal welfare
- Evolution of AW as an independent science
- Intro to scientific concepts of AW
- AW as it relates to veterinary forensic medicine
- Agricultural animal welfare investigations
- Introduction to US federal and state laws as it pertains to agricultural animals
|
| Week 2 |
Ethics, legislation, and animal welfare
- Introduction to schools of thought in regards to animal welfare
From ethics to legislation |
| Week 3 |
Measuring welfare: Behavioral indicators
- Review of current frameworks for measuring AW (5 Freedoms, etc.)
- Behavioral abnormalities indicative of poor welfare
|
| Week 4 |
Measuring welfare: Physiological indicators
- Definitions of stress, distress and suffering
- Impact of stress, distress and suffering on the hypothalamic-adrenal axes
- Neurobiology of the stress response
- Roles of neurobiology in adaptive responses
- Assessment techniques
- Behavioral deprivation, sensory inadequacies, over-taxation, and diseases
- Assessing fear and the effects of fear
|
| Week 5 |
Measuring welfare: Production and health measures
- Common production and health measures to assess overall animal welfare
- Assessing and measuring stress
- Veterinary forensic examinations of agricultural animals
- Body condition scoring systems
|
| Week 6 |
Animal welfare and pain
- Integration of information to understand potential causes of animal suffering
- Common causes of pain
- Defining pain
- Measuring pain
- Perception of pain and pain control
- Common potentially painful interventions and methods of pain control
|
| Week 7 |
Select AW issues by species: Poultry
- Standard practices of industrial production and alternatives
- Impacts on AW of chickens
- Case example
|
| Week 8 |
Select AW issues by species: Cattle
- Standard practices of industrial production and alternatives
- Impacts on AW of cattle
|
| Week 9 |
Select AW issues by species: Swine
- Standard practices of industrial production and alternatives
- Impacts on AW of pigs
|
| Week 10 |
Select AW issues by species: Horses
- Standard practices of industries that use horses and alternatives
- Impacts on AW of horses
|
| Week 11 |
Select AW issues by species: Goats, sheep, other
- Standard practices and alternatives
- Impacts on AW of goats, sheep, other
|
| Week 12 |
Economics of animal welfare
- Introduction to economics
- Conflict between ethics and economics
- Economic aspects of animal welfare
|
| Week 13 |
Animal welfare judging/assessment exercise
- Based on a model by Michigan State University, students are given case studies and asked to evaluate behavioral, physiological, health, and management information to AW in two or more production systems
|
| Week 14 |
Current animal welfare standards and assessment
- Current welfare standards, private and government
- Expected future trends: a look at AW-related legislation abroad
- Assessment schemes and types of audits
|
| Week 15 |
Agricultural animal abuse investigations and prosecution
- Case law
- Application of specific state and federal laws
- Case examples
|
| Week 16 |
Final Exam |
