Feeding Animals

Understand more about animal feeding and nutrition requirements.

 Learn about the essentials of what is required to feed animals.  The Short Course provides a comprehensive guide to the composition of animal feed and looks at different types of feed and how this is used to promote animal health. Lessons are included on both domestic and farming elements.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. INTRODUCTION TO FEEDING ANIMALS AND INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES
   • Eating and drinking anatomical adaptations
   • Classification of animals – mode of feeding or feed types
   • Mode of feeding classification
   • Digestive systems – general and specialised
   • Recent animal feed industry concerns
   • Industry opportunities and employment
   • Working in animal feed industries
2. THE COMPOSITION OF FEED
   • Feed analysis
   • Classification of feed stuffs & animal protein sources
   • Protein
   • Carbohydrate
   • Fibre
   • Fats (lipids)
   • Vitamins
   • Minerals
3. FORAGE
   • Composition of plant tissues as an animal food
   • Terms used to describe aspects of feed quality
   • Pasture / grass
   • Pasture hays
   • Silage
   • Root crops
   • Trees for fodder
4. CONCENTRATES
   • Introduction
   • High energy requirements
   • Cereal, grains and by-products
   • By-products - yeast, wheat bran, fish meal, oil cake
   • Legumes
   • Sugar beet
   • Molasses
5. FEED ADDITIVES
   • Contamination and shelf life
   • Sensory additives
   • Preservatives - salt, acid, sugar, artificial preservatives
   • Emulsifiers and stabilisers
   • Nutritional and zootechnical additives
   • Antibiotics, feed enzymes, prebiotics and probiotics
6. MANAGING FEED PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY
   • Hay and silage production
   • Grassland management – promoting the health of the pasture
   • Grassland management – promoting the nutritional intake of animals
   • Pasture management principles
   • Hydroponic fodder production
   • Managing feed supply
7. FEEDING SMALL COMPANION ANIMALS AND PETS
   • Dogs
   • Cats
   • Rodents
   • Rabbits
   • Ferrets
   • African pygmy hedgehog
   • Birds
   • Fish
8. FEEDING LIVESTOCK
   • Browsers, grazers, intermediate feeders
   • Pigs
   • Chickens
   • Cattle
   • Sheep
   • Goats
   • Deer
   • Alpacas
   • Llamas
   • Horses
   • Feeding routines and procedures
9. FEEDING WILDLIFE
   • Reptiles
   • Amphibians
   • Birds
   • Mammals
   • Pandas and their relatives
   • Marsupials
   • Lagomorphs and rodents
   • Wild carnivores
   • Ungulates
10. EATING AND NUTRITIONAL DISORDERS IN ANIMALS
    • Activity anorexia
    • Over eating and under eating
    • Pica
    • Coprophagia
    • Thin sow syndrome
    • Nutritional imbalances
    • Metabolic bone disease
    • Iron storage disease
    • Botulism
    • Acidosis
    • Grass tetany
    • Final assessment

HOW THE COURSE WORKS

This is a self paced, 20 hour study program; with everything from your enrolment through to awarding of your certificate of completion, controlled by computer software developed by our programmers.

Utilizing cutting edge technology all the way; you can

1. Enrol, pay course fees into pay pal; your payment approval then triggers an email explaining how to proceed, and access to the course.
2. You are then given instructions (options to read or listen to an audio).
3. Next you proceed to work through lessons as fast or slow as you wish; undertaking automated self assessment tests at the end of each lesson, choosing practical/additional learning tasks to undertake as you go.
4. On concluding the final lesson; you undertake a major online exam; and on achieving a 60% pass rate, you are given a "Certificate of Completion" carrying your name and date, to download as a pdf, to save or print as you wish

NOTE:

Unlike our other 100 hour courses, there is no additional exam fee charged for the exam in this or any of the 20 hour short courses.