Million pound investment for Wirral’s Leahurst campus

Apr 30 2008 by Matt Hurst, Wallasey News

FARM animal veterinary education in Wirral has received a boost after Liverpool University invested £1m in its Leahurst campus.

The Neston-based centre houses Wood Park dairy farm which has been rebuilt to house 200 cows, each expected to generate in the region of 9,500 litres of milk per year.

It is one of two farms available for education and applied research, alongside delivering produce, with the second concentrating on sheep, beef cattle and pigs.

Dr Agnes Winter, head of the university’s department of veterinary clinical science, said: “Liverpool has always been strong in farm animal veterinary education and takes advantage of the concentration of cattle and sheep within the North West.

“Currently 47 of our 92 final year students have chosen to do extra elective study in farm animal topics.

“We want to encourage enthusiasm for farm studies by opening up the farm to schoolchildren for them to learn how important and interesting the farming industry is.

“Children will be taught by academic and industry experts about food safety, selective breeding and animal husbandry.”

The farm will also serve as a regional facility for the whole farming industry, with a meeting room available for farmers’ groups, industry bodies and training courses for milking parlour maintenance technicians and agriculture merchants.

Students at Liverpool University faculty of veterinary science are taught best practice in veterinary care and animal management through a series of programmes that give hands-on experience in trimming cows’ feet, diagnosing pregnancy and sexing of foetuses, as well as how to analyse cow rations and farm performance data.

Dr Rob Smith, head of the faculty’s livestock, health and welfare division, added: “The farm has been designed to provide the best in animal care and welfare, as well as provide user-friendly facilities for student study.

“The new cattle shed has a viewing gallery for students to observe and monitor cow behaviour as part of our teaching on reproduction.”