PhD position: Environmental enrichment for goats

 Institution: University of Guelph
Project Summary: Goats have evolved in challenging natural environments, and thus developed
complex foraging, navigating, cognitive and social skills; improving and enriching commercial
goat housing promotes the expression of natural behaviours associated with these skills, and
ultimately, increases positive welfare. However, the scientific literature examining goat housing
improvements is minimal and often poorly designed, and thus lacks on-farm application
transferability. Given the inclusion of natural behaviour and enrichment in Canada’s National
Farm Animals Care Committee’s Code of Practice for the Handling and Care of Goats, there is
an urgent need to systematically review enrichment options, and surveying goat producers to
understand existing enrichment options and their efficacy. The successful candidate for this
project will use a combination of on-farm work and machine learning to assess the feasibility of
enrichment options. The work will be conducted across multiple dairy, meat and fibre goat farms
in Ontario. From the on-farm work, guidelines and workshops will be produced to assist Ontario
producers in meeting the requirements of the Goat Code of Practice.
This position will be supervised by Dr. Tracy Burnett and Dr. Charlotte Winder (University of
Guelph) in collaboration with their New Zealand-based colleague, Dr. Gosia Zobel. The
candidate will be expected to fulfill course requirements on the main University of Guelph
Campus, and is not expected to reside in Ridgetown, ON.
Responsibilities:
• Assist in designing and conducting a study to evaluate housing enrichment/improvements
on commercial goat farms (milk, meat, and fibre) in Ontario.
• Participate in the recruitment of farms, communication with producers, on-farm set up of
housing improvement options and the goat behaviour recording equipment, and data
collection.
• Develop machine learning algorithms to automate goat behaviour collection.
• Collaborate with project team to analyze data and draw conclusions.
• Maintain accurate records of experimental procedures, results, and relevant observations.
• Contribute to the preparation of reports, scientific publications, and presentations.
Qualifications:
• Master’s degree in Animal Science or related field; or a master’s degree in Data Science,
provided the student has a strong interest in animal welfare and/or agricultural research.
• Interest in data handling and machine learning techniques is preferred.
• Previous experience working with livestock, particularly goats, is desirable.
• Previous experience with behavioural observations of animals is beneficial, but not
required.
• Excellent organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a research team.
• Full driver’s licence.
Duration: Full-time, 3-year PhD degree program.
Proposed start date: May 2025.
Compensation: This project is funded in part by Ontario Agri-Food Research Initiative. A
stipend for 3 years in available for this project. The student will be encouraged to, and provided
guidance on, seeking additional funding opportunities. The student will be required to pay tuition
fees according to the University of Guelph’s requirements.
Application Instructions: Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae
(CV), unofficial transcripts and contact information for 2 references via email to Dr. Tracy
Burnett at burnettt@uoguelph.ca