Oral and Poster Abstracts

Conclusions: Herd prevalence of BHV-1 infection has increased
compared to 2004. Within herd prevalence increased with herd size.
Based on the prevalence in heifers the infected herds can be divided
into two groups: low and high prevalence herds. In most herds the
spread of the infection is slow and young stock becomes infected
291 On-farm Teaching of Veterinary Students - Experiences and
Perspectives
I. Klaas, R. Jorgensen, C. Enevoldsen
University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of
Large Animal Sciences, Frederiksberg, Denmark
Rapidly increasing herd sizes in Denmark increase the demand for
veterinarians, who are competent to apply a systematic approach and
have solid knowledge on cow-level, herd-level and business matters.
At the same time, most of the veterinary students grow up in cities
with little or no contact to cattle and dairy production systems and
probably little interest in becoming a cattle veterinarian. Both the
industry’s demand and the students’ background emphasize the
increased need for adapting the clinical teaching to meet the
demands of modern dairy production. With on-farm teaching using
the farm as a case the students can learn and apply their knowledge
under real life conditions (contextual learning). We established a two
weeks training course for veterinary students 1-2 years before
graduation and after basic training in hospitals. There are three farm
visits in typical commercial dairy farms with herd sizes ranging from
50 to 260 cows. The aim of the course is that the students achieve
competencies necessary for their authorization as veterinarians
(diagnosing and treating diseases of cattle). Further, they have to
achieve the basic competencies required to work according to
officially approved herd health advisory contracts. From September
2006 to May 2007 six groups of students passed the courses. Typical
elements and assignments of the farm visits are: description of the
system (housing, feeding, and management of different age groups),
clinical examinations of acute patients, systematic clinical
examination of fresh cows, cows to be dried off, calves, a random
sample of milking cows and description of milking procedures. In
interviews with the owner or farm manager the students train to
communicate and gain knowledge on different types of management.
All theoretical exercises are based on farm visits and aim to give an
assessment of the health and welfare status of the herd. The
assessment consists of the students’ results from the systemic
clinical examinations, interpretation of herd data and management.
Course evaluation and practical experiences show that farm-based
teaching is an important and effective tool to improve and gain
knowledge in a short period of time. Furthermore, on-farm teaching
increases the interest of students in production animals, which could
be important to ensure that enough cattle veterinarians can be
recruited for cattle practice in the future.
292 Recent Developments in Bovine Veterinary Education in
Berlin with Students' Eyes
K. Heenemann, C. Weber, K. Muller
Clinic for Ruminants and Pigs, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Freie
Universitaet, Berlin, Germany
The veterinary education in Germany should be completed in five
years and six months. It is divided into a pre-clinical and a clinical
part. Contents and structure of the veterinary programme at the Freie
Universität Berlin are regulated by the German Tierärztliche
Approbationsverordnung (TAppV). The education in buiatrics starts
in the 3 rd year with courses on clinical examination techniques.
Lectures and clinical case demonstrations are held in the course of
organ-centred modules. At the Clinic for Ruminants and Pigs most
of the lectures include Blended Learning, increasing the active
participation of the students. As the students are able to prepare for
the lectures and clinical case demonstrations using the E-Learning
Education Workshop
through extended time period. The ELISA test used in the study was
not efficient to discover herds with low and moderate prevalence
(