Veterinary Assisting Courses

This course introduces students to the species and breeds of domestic livestock and development of an appreciation for the principles of livestock production, and issues facing product marketing. Topics include: breeds, basic management and marketing of farm animals, composition, evaluation and marketing of farm animals, composition, evaluation and marketing of animal products; including beef and dairy cattle, horses, goats, poultry, sheep and swine.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Overview of the factors that define contemporary ethical and scientifically based issues facing animal agriculture. Life skills development will be incorporated.

Lecture Hours: 32

Introduction to the functional anatomy and physiological activities governing the animal body through discussion and observation via video of the various body systems; including cells, senses, nerves, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive urinary, muscular reproductive and endocrinology. Fundamentals of identification, prevention, and treatment of various common disease problems. This course presents a sound preventative approach to animal health and husbandry as it relates to body health, form and function.

Lecture Hours: 48 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in AGS-113.

This course introduces students to the underlying principles of livestock nutrition through discussion of nutrition information, digestive systems, feedstuffs and ration balancing. Nutritional principles, digestive systems, composition and nutritional characteristics of common feedstuffs, ration formulation and recommended feeding programs of farm animals, including beef and dairy cattle, horses, poultry, sheep and swine will be emphasized.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This class introduces the student to means necessary to establish a working relationship with clients in the veterinary field. Familiarizes students with software used in veterinary practice.

Lecture Hours: 64

This class focuses on reading and interpreting medical charts and records, and conversing with veterinary professionals. It is designed for students to develop a working understanding of the language of veterinary medicine.

Lecture Hours: 32

This course provides an understanding of the basic principles of Anatomy and Physiology and Health of companion animals. Additionally the course will offer insight into social behavior and relationships. Also included will be training, housebreaking and obedience.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course presents the basic management and production practices for horses including nutrition, health care, facilities, reproductive management, breeding and evaluation. The course is designed for students wanting to learn how to care for their own horse or for other owners? horses as a herdsman or in a stable.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course provides an understanding of the principles involved with comprehensive swine management; selection to marketing. Emphasis will be placed on business aspects, production systems, facilities, health, record systems, and analysis. Field trips and guest speakers will be included. Hands-on training will be included through the swine-teaching herd.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course prepares students to integrate production principles. Management principles involved with comprehensive beef cattle production will be emphasized. Topics included: overview of the industry, budgeting, record analysis, principles of bull management, cow and heifer management practices, preconditioning programs, feedlot management and marketing. Students receive hands-on experience working with the school teaching herd plus field trips and guest speakers.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This class introduces the student to small animal pharmaceuticals. Learning is centered on the use, dosage, administration, handling, and storage of commonly used drugs used in small and large animal veterinary practices.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in AGS-218.

Composition I emphasizes fluency, thesis-driven organization, the use of supporting details, and research techniques. Writing is approached as a recursive process that includes prewriting strategies, drafting, revising, and editing. The course helps students shape writing to serve readers' needs and define a sense of purpose in their writing. It also gives students strategies for reading college-level material.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): Appropriate placement scores or equivalent.

This course focuses on composition and editing of curriculum-specific technical and business-related writing projects. Instruction includes formatting, information gathering, document drafting, editing, and written employment strategies.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in ENG-061.

This course is designed to present basic facts of arithmetic including whole numbers, fractions, decimals, powers, roots, English and metric measurement, ratio-proportion, percents, introduction to algebra, and introduction to geometry. Instruction includes use of scientific hand-held calculators and emphasis placed on critical thinking, problem solving skills.

Lecture Hours: 48

This is a one semester, liberal arts mathematics course that satisfies the minimum general education requirement for math. The course is designed to impart math skills which are helpful in everyday life as well as to expose students to areas of mathematics they may not have seen before. Topics include problem-solving skills, set theory, algebra, consumer mathematics, probability, and statistics. Other topics may be included.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in MAT-063 or appropriate placement score.

This course is a study of descriptive statistics including graphical representation, central tendency, correlation and regression, intuitive treatment of probability and inferential statistics including hypothesis testing.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): MAT-063.

This course provides an introduction to the study of behavior with emphasis in the areas of learning, cognition, motivation, personality, behavioral disorder, therapy, and social influence. An understanding of the impact of both theoretical perspectives and experimental evidence on the formulation of the science of human behavior is also stressed. Psychological theories and principles are utilized to explain and predict behavior.

Lecture Hours: 48

Human Relations is the study of self and social behavior. Emphasis is placed on the understanding and application of social science theories and research for the development of effective interpersonal and organizational relationships.

Lecture Hours: 48

This course surveys the basic principles, concepts, and research findings of social life from small groups to societies. The course examines a range of sociological explanations for the various forms of social behaviors and establishes a basis for reflection and further study in the field.

Lecture Hours: 48

This course provides students with opportunities to gain on-the-job experience in the agriculture industry. Students will gain an understanding of qualities and skills needed for success in the agricultural field. Coordination and guidance will be provided by department instructors.

Co-op Hours: 320

This is a Capstone course that will provide students the necessary skills and competencies that are needed to successfully perform the duties of a veterinary assistant. An example of topics covered will include; basic laboratory procedures, animal positioning, and surgical assistance. Staff and animal safety will also be covered.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in AGV-154 or instructor approval.

Begins a two semester sequence to prepare students for the calculus sequence. The central theme is the concept of functions, their properties, graphs and applications. Functions studied include polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

Lecture Hours: 80

Prerequisite(s): MAT-102 or appropriate placement score.

This one-semester pre-calculus course is intended for the student with a solid algebra background who intends to take calculus. It is also beneficial (but not required) for the student to have a background in trigonometry. The course will emphasize functions using an analytical, numerical, and graphical approach. The student will study linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions along with their applications.

Lecture Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): Appropriate placement scores.

The second course of a two-semester pre-calculus sequence. Topics include trigonometry and applications, vectors, analytic geometry, and polar and parametric equations.

Lecture Hours: 48

Prerequisite(s): MAT-122 or equivalent placement score.

The first in a calculus sequence, this course covers topics including functions and their graphs, limits, derivatives, applications of the derivative, and integrals.

Lecture Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of C- in MAT-134 or MAT-128 or appropriate placement scores.

A continuation of MAT-210, this course covers topics including integration techniques, applications of integration, infinite series, conic sections, parametric and polar equations.

Lecture Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of C- in MAT-210.

This course covers topics including integration and differentiation techniques related to vectors, vector-valued functions, functions of several variables, multiple integration, and vector analysis.

Lecture Hours: 64

Prerequisite(s): MAT-216.

This course introduces the production of Iowa's main cash crops; corn and soybeans. Units include: crop history, crop development, seed selection, fertilization, insect and weed control, harvesting, grain handling, marketing, storage and the economic importance of each crop. New and experimental production practices are discussed for practical application.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course is designed to make application and use of some materials learned in other courses. Decision making as it deals with the total cropping plan is stressed. An individual will determine from observation weed problems, plant populations, disease problems, insect problems, do yield checks, make recommendations for handling any problems.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course introduces students to basic concepts in economics, including various aspects of an economy-like agriculture, industry, population, food supply, government policies and physical environmental affect on each other and the economy as a whole. Resources used in agricultural production, organization price determination, supply, demand, and profit modernization is studied.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course provides the student with an introduction to grain merchandising and farm marketing. It is taught from the standpoint of a country elevator; however, the same principles apply to many other aspects of the grain industry. We emphasize the elevators relationship and responsibility to its customers. The basic fundamentals of marketing are discussed along with the more advanced aspects of managing basis positions, basis trading and managing risks. Some prior knowledge of country elevators and the futures market is useful but not required.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course is designed to enhance students? abilities in the area of leadership. The course includes activities that enable students to develop skills in communication, problem solving, committee work, and parliamentary procedure. Students may be involved in many local, state and nationally organized activities.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Business and economic principles applied to decision making and problem solving in the management of a farm business, cash flow, partial, enterprise, and whole farm budgeting. Information systems for farm accounting, analysis, and control. Obtaining and managing land, capital, and labor resources. Alternatives for farm business organization and risk management.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course introduces students to basic principles of organizing, financing, and managing a business. Including product merchandising and marketing, personnel management, credits, and risk management.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course presents aspects of the sales process including: selling success, types of sales questions, creating the selling climate, motivation, attitude, referral prospecting, no referral prospecting, phone sales, sales presentations and demonstrations, qualifying the prospect, overcoming objectiveness, closing twelve power closes, and sales paper work.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Fundamental processes of Global Positioning System (GPS) with emphasis on its application to agriculture will be covered. General technical aspects of the GPS satellites, differential correction, and hardware will be covered. The specific application of this technology in agriculture for mapping, navigation, variable rate technology (VRT), and data collection will be discussed and demonstrated on the farm laboratory.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

Fundamental processes of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with emphasis in its application to agriculture will be covered. File formats, data base management, spatial analysis and manipulation of data will be covered thoroughly. Comparisons of GIS and mapping software, and conversions between formats will also be discussed. The lab portion will concentrate on using georeferenced data from mapping and yield monitoring to develop maps from which a VRT prescription will be synthesized.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course presents the basic management and production practices for horses including nutrition, health care, facilities, reproductive management, breeding and evaluation. The course is designed for students wanting to learn how to care for their own horse or for other owners? horses as a herdsman or in a stable.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course provides an understanding of the principles involved with comprehensive swine management; selection to marketing. Emphasis will be placed on business aspects, production systems, facilities, health, record systems, and analysis. Field trips and guest speakers will be included. Hands-on training will be included through the swine-teaching herd.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course prepares students to integrate production principles. Management principles involved with comprehensive beef cattle production will be emphasized. Topics included: overview of the industry, budgeting, record analysis, principles of bull management, cow and heifer management practices, preconditioning programs, feedlot management and marketing. Students receive hands-on experience working with the school teaching herd plus field trips and guest speakers.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

An introduction to contemporary practices in the meat industry with a focus on production, processing and preservation of safe, wholesome, nutritious and palatable animal derived products (meat, dairy, and eggs).

Lecture Hours: 64 Lab Hours: 32

Prerequisite(s): A minimum grade of D- in AGS-113.

An introduction to food quality control/assurance and establishment of decision-making processes, looking at potential hazards in the food system along with ways to ensure safety of products. The 3 modules of this course will be 1) Food hazards 2) HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) and 3) Analysis for potential contamination.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32

This course develops the student's potential in livestock selection with emphasis placed on the evaluation of breeding animal as well as market animals. The course emphasizes the visual appraisal and the carcass evaluation of beef, swine, and sheep. Production records and grading, and wholesale and retail cuts will be studied.

Lecture Hours: 32 Lab Hours: 32