Animal Husbandry 2011/2012

Program Overview

Pre Clinical (Animal Husbandry) Placement requirements are a component of VETS4236 Preparation for Veterinary Practice. These farm placements are designed to assist you to gain the required skills neccesary to be able to successful progress in to final year and achieve the Faculty's graduate Attributes.

An overview of the (generic) Attributes to be achieved by all newly-graduating veterinarians is provided on the Faculty’s website (Graduate Attributes). This Unit of Study aims to develop many of these attributes and in particular those relating to Animal Management and Professional Practice.

Specific aims are:

1. To enable students to master animal handling and manipulative techniques.

Students should start to acquire these skills from the beginning of the undergraduate course. The veterinarian who is unskilled or ill at ease in carrying out basic animal handling procedures risks serious injury and lacks credibility with the general public and farming community. Most of the relevant handling skills for all domestic species are demonstrated in the practical classes in Animal Husbandry given in First Year.

The various animal handling techniques in which students should gain experience are listed in the guidelines labelled ‘Basic Handling Skills' for each species in your Animal Husbandry 1B Handbook. Each list also indicates the required level of proficiency that each student should attain by the beginning of Year 4. A list of further skills, labelled ‘Further Clinical Skills', is provided as an indication of skills which the Faculty will expect students to learn in Years 4 & 5; although there is no requirement to practise these skills before Year 4, students should avail themselves of any opportunity to observe or perform the procedures described.

Extramural Practical Work Placements commence at the completion of all units of study for Years 1 and 2. If all units of study are finalised in second semester, students may commence placements in January. If all units of study are finalised in first semester, students may commence placements in September. Placements are undertaken in all vacation periods.

2.To introduce students to activities in the various animal industries and practical management problems.

Many students commencing the Veterinary Science degree program have little or no detailed knowledge of the husbandry of domestic animals. Students must familiarise themselves with the nature of each animal industry.

This information must be obtained by working with farmers, trainers and other practical lay people on farms, in stables, etc; it cannot be satisfactorily obtained at university or by working with veterinary practitioners. The resulting insights will improve your understanding and enhance your appreciation of the various undergraduate units of study given by your lecturers.

3.To develop effective professional standards of behaviour and to develop effective working relationships with members of the (rural) community engaged in animal industries.

As a professional veterinarian, you will need to develop an understanding of the diverse needsand modus operandi of the farming community. Extramural practical work offers the opportunity to live and work with people who have a great practical skill base and knowledge of their industry from which you can learn.

These people voluntarily and without payment offer students time, resources and, often, accommodation in their homes and this generosity should be respected at all times, and reciprocated in kind, e.g. by doing some of the ‘dirty’ work if required. Students are expected to display a high degree of professionalism at all times, and conduct themselves in a socially acceptable manner, particularly when invited into family homes.