Students have many opportunities for hands-on experiences in feeding, breeding, handling, managing, and grooming animals by working with beef and dairy cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. The department has access to lab facilities and equipment allowing research in all of these areas and in studying animal reproduction, nutrition, and disease. Its Center for Integrated Biosystems has been recognized for its cloning expertise twice by Popular Science magazine. Students are able to gain research experience alongside professors in the following areas: animal health, animal nutrition, animal reproduction and development, animal breeding, cytogenetics, livestock and dairy management, molecular genetics, parasitology, toxicology, and virology.

• Animal and Dairy Science: Students will be trained in food animal production, equine and food animal management, and animal and medicinal biotechnology. They will also study issues including cost production, profitability, human and animal health, environmental stewardship, bioethics, and animal well-being.

• Biotechnology: In this emphasis, students learn the application of scientific and engineering principles to the production of materials by animals to provide goods and services. Topics of study include quantitative trait mapping, genetic manipulation, and cloning.

• Bioveterinary Science: In this emphasis students will cover topics such as animal biology, management, and disease. Coursework is intended to prepare students for admission to schools of veterinary medicine or other graduate programs in the life sciences, leading to career opportunities in veterinary medicine, life science research, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical testing laboratories.

• Equine Science and Management: This emphasis prepares students for careers dealing with horses. Options include managing equine events, running breeding farms, writing for equine publications, working for breed associations, and working for feed and pharmaceutical companies that deal with equine health.