Course Descriptions

The structure of the livestock and poultry industries. Principles, problems, and programs associated with production. There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition fees.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition fees.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Introduces students to the diversity of animal agriculture and agri-business. Students will participate in a seven-day field trip that will cover traditional and exotic livestock production and marketing enterprises as well as food and feed processing facilities. Emphasis will be placed on exposing the student to livestock production conditions over the range of commercial operations found in western Canada. Students will be expected to integrate information gathered from the field-trip locations into oral presentations and term reports with a goal of providing the student with background information necessary to complete upper year Animal Science courses. There are additional non-refundable costs in addition to tuition fees.

There are additional non-refundable costs in addition to tuition fees.
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 212 or permission of the instructor

The course covers qualitative and quantitative genetics applied to animal improvement. Principles and systems of selecting and breeding domestic animals will be examined. Students will be introduced to molecular genetics with a focus on livestock animals.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of 6 credit units of BIOL.

Lectures cover the principles of nutrition; the processes of digestion and utilization of foods and feeds; and the character, sources, function and requirements of the various nutrients. Laboratory work includes practical nutritional exercises.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): BMSC 230.
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

This course explores the nutritional and functional properties of feed ingredients, diet formulation, feed processing technologies, regulations, quality control, feed mill management and manufacture of specialty diets. Laboratory work includes practical exercises with feed production and diet formulation. There are additional non-refundable costs in addition to tuition fees.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): BMSC 230.
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

This course will provide students with the theory-based knowledge and some hands-on experience that is necessary to raise sheep. The learning outcomes address the need to provide applied advanced education to individuals raising sheep in an expanding industry. The course will also include discussion on goats as a source of meat and milk and this will provide the opportunity for discussion on the similarities between sheep and goat management, as well as the important differences.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of 30 credit units of university-level courses.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Provides senior undergraduate students with an understanding of the management, feeding and productivity of the breeding beef herd. Includes both summer grazing and winter feeding management. Emphasizes the effect of climate on management and feed requirements; environmental impacts of grazing; stocking rates; plant palatability, preference and selection; nutritional behaviour; nutrient cycling and energy flow; interactions with wildlife; ingestion of toxic plants.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 3 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315; or permission of the instructor.
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

Covers the feeding and management of beef cattle housed under intensive conditions. Topics include the principles of growth and development, carcass quality, feedlot diseases, marketing, feedlot design and environmental concerns with intensive feedlot operations. A brief overview of production using alternative species of ruminants (deer, bison, wapiti) is also provided.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315 or permission of the instructor
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

Review of poultry production systems with emphasis on breeding, housing and environmental control, feeding, disease prevention, and processing of meat and eggs. Lectures will integrate scientific principles with production techniques, relate management and nutrition to problems in and the economics of industrial production and highlight current issues. Laboratories will include tours of selected poultry facilities, when feasible, as well as projects in artificial incubation and hatching, management techniques for poultry and judging egg quality.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 212 or permission of the instructor. ANSC 315 and 316 are recommended.
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

Provides students with an understanding of the management and feeding of dairy cattle housed under intensive management conditions. Topics to be covered include the economics and marketing of milk and milk products, the science of feeding dairy cattle to meet their nutrient requirements, principles of ration formulation, management of the transition dairy cow, rearing of replacement heifers, milking systems, management of reproduction, herd health, and manure management and environmental impact of intensive dairy operations.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 4 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315 or permission of the instructor
Note: There are non-refundable costs in addition to tuition and fees.

This course covers the basics of swine production and management, with a focus on current practices in North America. Emphasis will be on production techniques involved in intensive pork production and the underlying scientific principles. Lectures include the role of pork production in the global, Canadian and Saskatchewan economies, types of production systems, breeding, management and feeding, diseases, behaviour and challenges facing modern pork production.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315.3; ANSC 316.3 is recommended

Students develop a question to be explored in depth in an area relevant to Animal Science. Working with a faculty supervisor of his or her choosing, the student prepares a thesis on this topic through several stages of development and revision. Most often the thesis relies on current scientific literature but occasionally additional new data are analyzed. Each student delivers a presentation in a conference setting.

Weekly hours: 2 Lecture hours
Restriction(s): Only open to students in the B.S.A. Animal Science major.
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of 75 credit units of university level courses.
Note: Students with credit for ANBI 492, ANBI 494, or ANSC 494 cannot receive credit for this course.

Students considering graduate work are encouraged to enroll. Placements are limited. The student develops a question to be explored in depth in an area relevant to Animal Science. Working with a faculty supervisor, the student collects relevant data during a series of experiments conducted over the summer months. Two additional advisors participate in the student's committee. Statistical analysis of data is conducted and the student prepares a thesis based on their results. Each student delivers a presentation in a conference setting at the end of the course.

Weekly hours: 2 Lecture hours
Restriction(s): Restricted to students with at least a 70% cumulative average as of January of their third year of the Animal Science degree program. Restricted to students enrolled in the Animal Science degree.
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of 75 credit units. Permission of the department required.
Note: Students with credit for ANBI 492, ANBI 494, or ANSC 492 cannot receive credit for this course.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Introduction to the planning, ethics and special problems of researchers working with agricultural animals. A survey of commonly used experimental designs for animal research and the statistical analysis of experiments using SAS.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PLSC 214.3 or equivalent
Note: Offered in every year.

A complete and comprehensive study of the chemistry and functions of the major nutrient groups (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids), the biochemistry of the post-absorptive metabolism of these nutrients in different tissues and organs, the roles of minerals, vitamins, and water in post-absorptive metabolism, and the integration and regulation of post-absorptive nutrient metabolism in animals. The course is intended for graduate students that have a good understanding of basic nutrition and nutritional biochemistry of animals.

Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315 or equivalent.
Note: Students with credit for ANSC 800 will not receive credit for this course.

A concise overview of the sources, availability, functions, requirements, deficiencies, deleterious effects and interrelationships of nutrients affecting the productivity of free-ranging wild and domestic ruminant animals. Research techniques will be emphasized.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Note: Offered in alternate years.

An examination of various aspects of farm animal welfare including historical, philosophical and scientific perspectives. The positions of animal interest groups, scientific societies, and commodity groups will be discussed. Emphasis will be on agricultural animals, but material relevant to laboratory animals and wildlife may also be presented.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Permission of Instructor required.
Note: Offered in alternate years.

Covers the impact that nutrition has on ruminant metabolism in order to maintain optimal production throughout the animal's life. The main emphasis is on dairy and beef cattle. The role of nutrition in the metabolism of the fetus, the calf from birth to puberty, and of the pregnant and the lactating cow is covered. Advances in feed and animal biotechnology that may improve the efficiency of production and have an impact on metabolism are discussed. Some tours will be given.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Permission of instructor required.
Note: Offered in alternate years. Additional costs apply to this course.

This course is aimed at graduate students with an interest in ruminant microbiology/nutrition and molecular biology. The focus of the class will be to develop a better understanding of the relationships between nutrition and rumen microbiology and to identify how the tools of molecular biology can be applied to further characterize the rumen ecosystem. The course combines theoretical concepts and principles with practice. Current research, recent literature, and real-life examples will be used throughout the course to gather a detailed understanding.

Prerequisite(s): ANSC 815 or with permission from instructor.
Note: Offered in alternate years.

The nutrition of monogastric species including, energetics and amino acids and how nutrition is affected by environment, production stage, health status and feed factors. Basic nutritional concepts and the application of these concepts in industry will be considered.

Prerequisite(s): ANSC 315 or equivalent.
Note: Students with credit for ANSC 813 may not take this course for credit.

This course focusses on the concepts of why we use feed processing to add value to feed ingredients for livestock and a discussion of the reality of achieving consistent increase in feed value. Laboratories will include practical applications of why concepts may or may not consistently result in reality – improved feed value. One full day will be scheduled at the Canadian Feed Research Centre to obtain hands-on experience of feed processing using pilot line equipment.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 2 Practicum/Lab hours
Note: Students will have a one day field trip to the Canadian Feed Research Centre.

This course is designed to expose and build capacity in the students’ ability to develop, evaluate, and implement nutritional and management programs for dairy cattle. Students will act as nutritional consultants for livestock operations owned by the UofS to build experience with inventory management, ration formulation, and pricing. This activity will also build inter-personal skills and communication ability.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours
Restriction: Must be enrolled in a graduate program in Animal Science or have permission of the instructor.
Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): ANSC 802 and/or ANSC 810 and/or ANSC 815.

Covers reproductive technologies; transgenic techniques; molecular genetics in animal selection; use of recombinant proteins for growth, lactation and reproduction; immunological modulation of animal production; improvement of feeds and rumen organisms; improvement of health. In addition, ethical and safety aspects will be considered. Emphasizes the application and impact of biotechnological techniques on animal production rather than the techniques themselves.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours and 4 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor; basic genetics and physiology courses are recommended.
Note: Students who have credit for ANBI 470 may not take this course for credit.

Special offerings in topics relevant to Animal and Poultry Science. Examples would be Nutrition of Grazing Animals, Laboratory Techniques, Immunology, Animal Forensic Science and Use of Statistics in Animal Experimentation. Interested students should contact the Head of the Department.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Reports and discussion of current research. Graduate students are required to attend and participate during their candidacy.

Students writing a Master's thesis must register for this course.

Students writing a Ph.D. thesis must register for this course.