Harper Adams' companion animals get new menu thanks to student's innovative placement project
Animals at a Shropshire's agricultural university are enjoying the benefits of a new diet thanks to an innovative student.
An innovative development set up by a Shropshire university student on placement has widened the diets of creatures in Harper Adams University’s Companion Animal House (CAH) – by adding wildflowers and edible weeds to their menu.
The animals in the house – from its herd of guinea pigs and rabbits, to its exotic species such as Bailey, the blue-tongued skink – are now able to tuck into a variety of the plants, thanks to work driven forward by Tanya Peters, a bioveterinary science student undertaking a placement year working at the unit.
Tanya, who is originally from Salisbury, Wiltshire, began planning the project during the latter part of 2020, in the first months of her placement as a technician in the house.
She said: “Most of the animals in the CAH enjoy a diet which contains a variety of fruit and vegetables as a source of nutrition. We obtain this produce via weekly veg boxes – however I had noticed that some of this produce had been grown and transported from all over the world. Not only this, I also wanted to try to reduce the unit’s food wastage.
“Therefore, I wondered if developing a vegetable and wildflower patch would help the unit become more sustainable and provide variety for the animals. After speaking with my manager, the university estates department and grounds team, a plan started to unfold in setting up this patch."
As part of the project, Tanya not only tended the garden itself, but dedicated a 5,000-word assignment to the proposals, examining the kinds of plants which would work, the impact that the project would have on environmental considerations such as food miles and traceability, and a review of the current literature on the diet of each animal set to be served by the produce.
She added: "The blue-tongued skink, Bailey, really enjoyed the calendulas, nasturtiums and cornflowers and the guinea pigs and rabbits were very happy to get plantain, lamb’s lettuce, common mallow and more.
“I love the guinea pigs – they are my favourite animals and one of the reasons I wanted to plant the garden.
“From what I discovered through my research, there’s little information available on some of the exotics such as the skink– but the general consensus is that the best way to achieve higher welfare is to imitate their natural, wild environment and this includes providing wildflowers and weeds as an important part of their diet."
