Combined resources
The Harper and Keele Veterinary School is unique in that it provides students with access to resources from two universities.
Harper Adams University:
A 635 hectare farm All students at the Vet School will have access to Harper’s working farm, which includes all key livestock – beef, dairy, poultry, pigs and sheep – allowing students easy access to the commercial livestock facilities, which offer extensive support for learning, teaching and research. Centre for Animal Well-being will be ‘home’ for Harper and Keele Veterinary School staff and students on the Harper campus. The Centre will seek to highlight the importance of animal well-being through the delivery of high quality UG, PG and CPD courses; through interaction with industry partners and the wider veterinary and agricultural sectors; and through the engagement of relevant disciplines including engineering, business management, precision agriculture, economics and data analytics. The Veterinary Services Centre is a purpose-built facility available for teaching and research purposes, with an additional commercial component in some areas. The facility comprises a reception area and offices (for 12 members of staff), eight consulting rooms, and the hydrotherapy suite. The hydrotherapy suite is a state-of- the-art room with the benefit of both a pool and a canine underwater treadmill. The treadmill has glass sides allowing viewing from all angles. This enables students to observe movement patterns underwater that would otherwise not be visible. The suite is open to referral cases from the local area. The Companion Animal House with a wide range of small companion mammal and exotic species. This facility is due to be expanded with an extension to the current building going up in 2019 prior to the first cohort of Vet School students arriving in 2020. The new Companion Animal House will include a nocturnal species room, an isolated hospital room, and modern indoor/outdoor rabbit housing. Multiple animals of each species allow demonstration and practice of a range of management systems and husbandry techniques. The Anatomy Laboratory is a ‘wet lab’ for animal anatomy and physiology dissection classes. It has stainless steel dissection tables and a range of anatomical models. It is fully functional for formalin dissection and is positioned such that comparison with the live animal in one practical class is possible The Agri-Epi Dairy research facility In addition to Harper’s main dairy unit, the University also operates a robotic dairy unit on behalf of Agri-Epi (one of the UK agri-tech innovation centres). This has a herd of 60 Holstein/Friesian dairy cows milked through a single DeLaval robotic milking unit involved in ongoing research into animal welfare and productivity. Research environment Harper Adams has created an environment where students, staff and industry work together on research with real-world impact, improving animal welfare, tackling food scarcity, and developing new farming technologies. In 2014, the Research Excellence Framework results saw all of its work considered of international quality, and more than half world leading or internationally excellent.
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