Unit Synopsis
This unit will provide you with a holistic approach to evaluating and maintaining animal behaviour and welfare in a variety of production animal settings. You will learn about the key concepts of animal welfare and their applications, as well as the principles of animal behaviour for a range of domestic animal species. You will develop practical and technical skills for high standards of animal welfare. You will explore regulations regarding animal welfare and develop strategies for compliance, particularly in the context of livestock production and supply chains. You will learn about the importance of animal welfare to the economic and social outputs of animal-based industries both in Australia and overseas.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite: Minimum of 24 credit points. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Presentation | 20% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 50% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 30% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 23.53% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Students during class
Residential school activities and academic presenters were well received.
Continue offering residential schools with the focus on hands on activities. Where possible guest presenters will be utilised to deliver engaging content.
Some guest presenters were included in 2025. There was an increase in the number of hands-on, experiment-based activities. The work of the technical staff was critical in preparing for these activities.
Source: Students during class and UC reflection
Guest lecturers were appreciated by students and kept students engaged.
Continue to bring in expert guest lecturers to keep students engaged, and reinforce careers within animal health and welfare.
This unit hosted three guest lecturers in 2025.
Source: Observation and student feedback
Placing a group assessment at the beginning of the term means that students who withdraw from the unit, which occurs more often at the start of term, cause significant disruptions to their assessment group. Group assessments should therefore be held later in the term.
Hold group assessments later in the term, preferably after census date.
In Progress
Source: Class and SUTE feedback
Students continue to enjoy and derive great benefit from the residential school.
The residential school component for this unit should continue to be delivered, with a mix of individual and group tasks. There should continue to be an emphasis on hands-on learning.
In Progress
Source: UC Reflections.
Conduct a major reevaluation of the learning material.
Refreshing this unit for the new iteration of AGRI12001 to have a welfare and behaviour focus will require a major revaluation of the unit's learning material. This process should begin in late 2025.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate and explain the behaviour and welfare of animals
- Develop and implement animal welfare and safe animal handling strategies
- Critique animal welfare codes of practice and legislation
- Explain the role of animal behaviour in livestock production and husbandry practices.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Presentation | • | |||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |