Animal Science Technology: Beef Science Major

Beef is one of Alberta’s biggest industries, and Lakeland’s Animal Science Technology: Beef Science Major takes you straight to the heart of it. This two-year diploma is taught face to face at Lakeland’s Vermilion campus, where the cattle you study are only a short walk from the classroom.

The Beef Science Major covers commercial and purebred cow/calf operations as well as feedlots. You follow the complete production cycle, from calving through to finishing, and your studies run from livestock genetics to meat science, so you understand how a breeding decision made today shows up in carcass quality years later. Along the way you build the business management and leadership skills a modern beef operation depends on.

Lakeland calls hands-on, student-led experience the bedrock of this major, taking you from pasture to plate. You learn either through the Student-Managed Farm, Powered by New Holland, model or through a student-directed practicum, and you can choose between summer and winter calving management options, each with its own challenges in the barn and on pasture. Graduates can add a second diploma in Agribusiness or Crop Technology in one extra year, continue to Lakeland’s Bachelor of Agriculture Technology, or transfer 60 credits to the University of Alberta Animal Science major or University of Lethbridge Agricultural Studies.

Beef Science graduates work as labourers and managers in feedlot and cow/calf operations, sales representatives for livestock feed and pharmaceutical companies, livestock support technicians, feed and health regulatory support technicians, genetics technicians and livestock research assistants. The major suits students who are at home around cattle and want a career built on herd health, genetics and ranch management.