All creatures great and small

 

So you love animals and you’d love to work with them. Great. One of the ways you could get involved is through a career in animal science. Not only do you get the hands-on experience of interacting with animals on a daily basis, but you get a solid grounding in understanding the science that makes them tick, as well as being able to make a positive contribution in the war against climate change.

A great way to start would be through a degree in Animal Science, like the BSc course run at Aberystwyth University. The university, which is seen as a centre of excellence in the subject, offers a three year full-time course combining science, production and management.

Covering everything from animals and the environment to nutrition, the course is the perfect gateway to a whole host of possibilities.

To find out more, we spoke to Dr. Mike Rose, Course Director for the Animal Science scheme and Professor Jamie Newbold, Leader of Animal & Microbial Sciences Research Division.

To start, we asked Dr. Rose to give us a broad outline of what a student could expect to find from studying on the course. “Fundamentally it’s looking at the animals used by man. This includes farm animals, companion animals, horses and laboratory animals. We cover their health, nutrition, parasitology, immunology, ethics and behaviour.

Animal science, in common with most forms of medicine, has had some incredible technical advances in the last few years. How are students on the course prepared for this?

“One of the things we’re very keen on is that when our students go out they have an understanding of the newer technologies,” explained Professor Newbold. “We introduce the students to advanced omic technologes like metabolomics, genomics and proteomics and how these apply to animal science. I very much believe that - in the future - when our graduates go out they will be bombarded with information generated through these technologies. They need to understand the underlying strengths and weaknesses of them so they can develop their careers as they move forward.”

Aberystwyth University is, in fact, at the very front of exploring new animal science technologies. Professor Newbold explains: “As part of the formation of IBERS (Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences) we’re undergoing a £55m investment programme that is bringing in these cutting edge technologies into our own labs to benefit our research. And it also benefits our teaching in that we aim to let the students interact with the cutting edge of where animal science is going.”

Although it may seem funny, the issue of animals and their impact on the environment – most prominently through methane production – has become a large issue in the animal science and environmental worlds. This is something addressed through the degree as well. 

“The area of greenhouse is a big area of research for Aberystwyth University. We have a £¾m contract with Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to measure and reduce emissions from ruminants  (creatures like cattle, sheep and goats) so we’re fully kitted up to measure how much methane is produced by animals,” Professor Newbold explains. “We bring that into the teaching in that we have an advanced animal nutrition course in the third year where we’ll cover that expertise. But the students who are really interested in this can drive them forward in their research dissertations in their third year.

“I’ve currently got two students working for me who are making measurements of how much methane sheep produce and what effect feeding them garlic-based products will make. It is funny, but it’s also serious. The average high producing dairy cow can produce 500 litres of methane a day. On a rural climate like Wales ruminants can produce up to 50/60 per cent of all the methane. On a global level it’s about four per cent.

“A message that we want to get across is that that’s a small figure compared with four-wheel drives, but it’s a figure that can be reduced. The other message is that this four per cent of gases is a loss to the animal. The animal loses 10 per cent of its energy a day through methane, so there’s a win-win situation for the farmer. They can reduce greenhouse gases and also increase the productivity of the animal.”

Doctor Rose expands: “It’s not just about methane. Ruminants consume large amounts of concentrate protein and research ongoing here is looking to see how you can make the ruminants use of that protein more efficient. Eighty per cent of the nitrogen that they eat comes out the back end in one form or another. The ongoing research here is how that can be made more efficient so that more nitrogen can be kept as milk or meat and less is lost as urine or faeces.”

Professor Newbold goes on to explain how  energy – now going to waste through animal gas – could potentially be used for providing energy in the future: “We do have a degree of interest in developing alternative fuel sources through anaerobic digestion (the process by which biodegradable material is broken down without  oxygen.)

“Looking forward, I think that on-farm energy generation using faecal matter will become common, and we try to cover this is our courses. Optimistically, I hope that we can reduce the direct emissions significantly in 10 years so that the animal isn’t losing these valuable carbon and nitrogen sources.”

Animal Science is obviously a varied, challenging and reward programme to pursue…so what kind of potential students are the course leaders looking for? “They come with three A-levels, usually 2 sciences and we absolutely ask for a grade C in biology,” explains Doctor Rose. “We want someone who is engaged and interested in real problems,” he continues. 

Professor Newbold expands: “Our course focuses on the animals that man uses and those are - by definition - the ones that will impact on the global challenges of climate change, food security and water supply. It has students that are interested in these areas and are interested in finding sustainable solutions to these problems.”

After graduation life looks rosy for students who took the course, with an incredibly wide range of jobs and further education open to them. Explaining their options, Doctor Rose said: “Out of 30 students on the course, I’d say about three or so students would do PhDs and then go on to do research. A number of our students (maybe two or three) use the degree as a way of getting into veterinary science. Maybe they didn’t get the A levels that they wanted and therefore do animal science, so if they perform sufficiently well, they can use this to gain entry to vet schools.

“In addition to that, the feed and pet industries are crying out for animal nutritionists. The pharmaceutical industries and welfare organisations also employ animal scientists. We’ve got animal scientists employed in a number of government organisations like Defra the Health and Safety Executive and the Food Standards Agency. A number of animal scientists also go on to become biology teachers in schools after doing a PGCE. One of the big strengths of it as a subject area is that it’s applied, and that means that there are jobs at the end of it. We find that most of our graduates do what they want to do within 6 months of leaving here.”

But what are the personal qualities that attract students to the course? “The thing that motivates most of our students is that they like animals. Yes, they want to see the welfare of animals maximised and production made more efficient, but animal welfare is what most of our students are interested in,” Doctor Rose said.

And how well can animal scientist graduates expect to be paid?

“It depends,” says Doctor Rose. “If you want to become an animal nutritionist - for example - then that can be very well paid indeed. Relatively speaking, there are very few people who have a good understanding of it and are able to get involved. Because there are few and the salaries paid are relatively high.”

So, if animal care is your thing, and you want a solid, substantial understanding that can take you in many directions, animal science could be the way to go.

Find out more at the Aberystwyth University website at www.aber.ac.uk.

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