Study Guide

Objective

The students are able to gather information, evaluate, plan and develop operations of a dairy cow unit taking into account animal productivity, health and welfare as well as effective use of resources and sustainibility. The students are able to take part in professional discussions of dairy production.

Content

Current topics in production and nutrition of dairy cows and replacement animals in finnish and international sources, digital solutions used to gather information and other technology used in production, indicators describing the production with most attention in the indicators of yield and production along with efficiency in use of feed and nutrients, producer prices and principal production costs, principles of planning breeding in dairy production, current topics in health care, important subjects relating to planning of preventive health care, environmental effects of production, prevention of common production diseases.

Materials

Material assigned by teacher.

Teaching methods

Lectures, web-based or recorded
Assignments; it is obligatory to take part to presentations of some assingments (agreed in the beginning of the course)
Demonstrations (obligatory)
Study trips (obligatory)

Completion alternatives

The course can also be connected with the student’s work tasks and assingments if the student is in a workplace where the work assignments have similar contents. The matter is agreed in more detail with the teacher at the beginning of the course.

Student workload

Totally 270 h.

Further information

Grassland production and use as forage is recommended before this course.

Evaluation scale

1-5

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

The students can act in a dairy unit at daily activities and gather basic information needed for production and heath care. They can produce feeding plans for different groups of animals when advised. They can describe elements of producer price and list ways of reducing production costs. They can describe and compare technological solutions.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

The students can manage and plan the production from a longer perspective. They can plan the feeding of different groups of animals. They are able to evaluate and explain possibilities health care and aspects of producing replacement animals. They can recognize the effects of feeding, care and housing conditions on performance, health, environment and production costs. They can justifiably compare and choose solutions for feeding and technology.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The students can take into account and apply detailed facts of nutrition and production biology when planning feeding and production. They are able to search and apply information and give reasons for decisions independently. They can form a broad multidisciplinary view combining animal welfare and productivity, technology and effective use of resources.

Assessment methods and criteria

Approved assingments

Qualifications

Common professional studies in animal husbandry or other comparable knowledge and skills.

Further information

The student can complete 4, 7 or 10 credits according to their choice.
Common to all 4 ECTS Basics of course content and milk production as a field.
Extension package 3 credits: Udder and hoof health with an emphasis on preventive health care, in-depth information on milking.
Extension package 3 ECTS: Planning and implementation of feeding (incl. technical choices and dimensioning) in different production stages and for different groups of animals, connection of feed choices and feeding implementation to nutritional and metabolic diseases.