Overview

This is a graduate-level course that covers the components and determinants of a healthy livestock system. The course will allow students to understand the interaction between animals (hosts), microorganisms (infectious disease) and the environment. This course emphasizes how to optimize interventions in livestock production systems to minimize the economic impact of infectious disease. The instructors assume that enrolled students have a foundational knowledge of pathogens and livestock system design and operations

Course Goals

Students will possess the knowledge required to improve the health of livestock systems and apply economically effective interventions to control infectious disease.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Recognize factors that influence infectious disease transmission within and between livestock production systems.
Identify strategies to minimize the risk of pathogen transmission.
Create a comprehensive health improvement program for a given livestock production system.

Recommended Prerequisites

VCM 505 or VCM 507