Equipment, Plants and Machinery for Livestock Production

The course aims to: provide the skills related to the aspects of mechanization for livestock husbandry including systems at high automation level; study the operating principles of machines and plants; evaluate their performances and limitations of use, also from the safety point of view. With regard to the structures for livestock breeding, the course aims to provide knowledge about the structures supporting the animal housing, with particular reference to milking parlours, storages for forage and livestock feed. The course also aims to provide knowledge and design elements to deal with the problems of agricultural waste management from the point of view of structures and plant engineering, with particular reference to the management of livestock manure in protecting the environment and technologies and processes for its agronomic treatment and enhancement.

Ability to define and critically choose automatic milking and feeding systems. To perform performance and energetic analysis on machines and plants for the livestock farm. To acquire the capability to dimension and design milk storage and cooling systems. To define the most important criteria about safety for designing and using machines and plants for livestock husbandry. Critical evaluation of the requirements of the structures of livestock farms supporting production and criteria for their sizing in relation to farm needs. Design and functional criteria of structures and facilities for the management of agricultural wastes. Calculation and simulation tools to support the correct management and treatment of livestock effluents for environmental protection.