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WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
17
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Welfare...and farewell!
STUDENT DIARY
Emily Collier
, Usk, Monmouthshire
Fourth year student, University of Bristol
I have been fascinated for many years by
animal behaviour so the ‘Behaviour and
Welfare Science’ course was the natural
choice for my intercalated degree. Bristol’s
animal behaviour and welfare research group
is very highly acclaimed and this was a huge
factor in helping me decide which university
to attend. It seems to me that understanding
behaviour is the next big step not only in
companion animals but also in farm animal
production, although it is a factor which has
long been overlooked. I have always been
practically-minded so I am particularly
interested in the use of behaviour knowledge
to increase production - for example herd
hierarchies in cattle affecting access to feed
and water and therefore impacting on milk
yield, or understanding how we can modify
sows’ behaviour to reduce piglet mortality.
On the course, we are paired up with a
supervisor, who is one of the researchers in
the behaviour group, and we undertake a
research project alongside lectures and
seminars. The variety and scope of the
projects are really impressive - from looking
at the relationship between parasite burden
and behaviour in sheep to investigating the
use of cow brushes to identifying hens with
naturally blunter beaks to reduce feather
pecking. Building on the wide knowledge
base I developed at the Ruminant Lameness
Conference over the summer, I am looking at
the use of pain relief to treat cattle lameness.
At present, it is rarely used despite the fact
that lameness has been proven to be
significantly painful to the cow for a long
duration. I will be chatting to vets and
farmers and looking at farm records to
understand their thoughts on pain relief
and hopefully help to increase its use in
the future.
I am now at the end of my year as student
columnist and just over halfway through my
university career! I love being a student in
Bristol, but already I am itching to get out
into practice. For now, I have to be content
with the farm vet placements I have planned
for next summer, the Farm Animal Veterinary
Society congress in February and a
conference on TB in June.
Exciting times!
About me
I decided when I was seven that I was
going to be a vet, and that I wanted to
study at Bristol University. I am proud to
say that's where I find myself now. I have
lived in the same village in Monmouthshire
all my life, surrounded by agriculture. I
used to spend every spare moment with
the horses, which were kept on a sheep
farm. I would spend hours in the sheds at
lambing time eagerly watching for which
ewe would be next, and was always on
hand to help with the shearing. I went to
several (rather wild) YFC barn dances and
the agricultural shows were the highlight
of my summers. In addition to many
weeks at local vet practices and equine
centres, I have worked on the pig unit at
Hartpury College and on a couple of
local dairy farms; I actually loved the early
starts, much to my own surprise! I also
helped with lambing a flock of 1,000
ewes near Bridgend, which was certainly
a steep learning curve but one which I
fully enjoyed.
As I enter my fourth year at University, I find myself wearing a slightly
different hat. Veterinary students have the opportunity to take an
intercalated year - essentially, we take time out of the vet course to
get a degree in another subject. As the content of the vet course is
so expansive, there is not much time for reading around subjects or
looking at research papers so this is the perfect chance to specialise
in a narrower field.