Our Animal Research Wing, which is part of the Animal Science Building, is a modern small and large animal facility that is capable of handling a wide variety of animal species including mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, quail, sheep, swine, and cattle. The facility includes small animal rooms suitable for rodents, rabbits etc., including a barrier isolation facility used to house mice in micro-isolation cages. The unit also includes quarters for poultry and quail either in floor pens or cage units along with intermediate sized rooms configured to handle sheep, swine, and fish, and a large animal room currently configured for large fish tanks to support aquaculture, but capable of handling large cattle. Ancillary laboratories include surgical suites, preparatory laboratories, feed mixing and storage rooms and cage wash facilities.

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Angela Black

A new 11,000 square foot cooperative facility for research in animal biotechnology was recently established at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. It includes laboratories specifically designed for research in cloning and transgenic biology. It has its own self-standing laboratories and animal facilities for rodents and avian. ANSC faculty engaged in nuclear cloning, stem cell and transgenic biotechnology would use this facility to investigate genes of significance for the growth, development and physiology of domestic animals.

The Campus Farm, which is located immediately across Regents Drive from the Animal Science Building, occupies approximately 5 acres of land. The Campus Farm is a focal point of our undergraduate program activities and is used extensively in teaching laboratories in the undergraduate courses: ANSC 101, ANSC 214, ANSC 220, ANSC 232, ANSC 241, ANSC 330, and ANSC 420. A small ewe flock (20) is used in our undergraduate “Lamb Watch” course taught during the spring semester. We maintain a horse stable that supports our undergraduate program in Equine Science and the Institute of Applied Agriculture’s Equine Management Program. The stable is the focal point of the University of Maryland Equestrian Club, an undergraduate club with nearly 100 members which supports the care and use of the department’s horses. Our Campus Farm includes 3 main barns, a riding area, a machine shed, an office building and the Poultry Behavior Research Facility. These facilities were part of the original Animal Science Research Farm dating back to the time when the entire campus was an experimental farm. We are one of the few animal science departments with the presence of animals directly on campus. This is one of the most frequently cited reasons for undergraduate students selecting the University of Maryland Animal Science Program.

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Angela Black

This 925 acre facility, a part of the Central Maryland Research and Education Center, is located in Howard County, approximately 25 miles (45 minutes) from the College Park campus. It is the largest research facility owned and operated by MAES. It is home to the University's dairy cattle research herd, which consists of 200 head of Holstein cattle including 110 milking cows and 90 head of young stock. The dairy facilities have been completely rebuilt during the last 10 years. Research facilities include provisions for individual feeding of up to 65 milking cows, digestion and metabolism experiments, and group pens for replacement animals and dry cows. The dairy research focus has been primarily in the areas of nutrition, reproduction, physiology, herd health, animal behavior, and management practices. Department faculty and students utilize the facility in support of their research, teaching and extension programs.

Faculty Contacts:
Dr. Bob Peters
Dr. Mark Varner
Dr. Rich Erdman - Strategies to Maximize Skeletal Growth
Dr. Rick Kohn - Feeding to Reduce Phosphorous Excretions

The University of Maryland's Crane Aquaculture Facility (UM - CAF) is a 4000 square foot state-of-the-art recirculation aquaculture facility with a supporting prep area. It includes a brood-stock module with 4-10,000 liter fiberglass culture tanks, biofilter, degassing column, protein skimmer, mechanical drum filter, and oxygen injection and ozonation systems. In addition, there are 2 separate, identical 26,000 liter (total volume) research modules each consisting of 10-1,600 liter tanks with accompanying filters and hardware. The facility has computer controlled and monitored environmental conditions. The Aquaculture Teaching Lab (ATL), located in the Animal Science Building, includes a small recirculation system that is designed to support undergraduate teaching. An accompanying , fully equipped hatchery located in the Animal Research Wing of the Animal Sciences Building is used for fertilization experiments. It has 12-200 liter raceways, a micro-bead filter and 48-4 liter McDonald hatching jars.

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Curry Woods

The Equine Research Unit is located in Ellicott City, MD, about 35 minutes north of the main campus. The Unit is part of a larger 900-acre Central Maryland Research and Education Center. The Unit is used to conduct equine nutrition studies, and it also houses a 5-acre pasture that is being developed into a rotational grazing and pasture management demonstration site. The Equine Research Unit includes a 17 stall barn, 18 acres of turnout, a treatment room, an office, a field work room, and several storage areas. The research unit has a 6-horse automated exercise that's used to exercise the horses when they are on study. The Equine Research Unit houses up to 16 horses throughout the year depending on when studies are being conducted.

Faculty Supervisor: Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Amy Burk

The Wye Beef Cattle Research Center is part of the Wye Research and Education Center, a 450 acre facility located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore near Queenstown. The beef herd consists of 250 registered Angus cows plus young stock, and bulls which are direct descendants of the Wye Angus herd that was donated to the University of Maryland in 1978. However, faculty in the department have periodically conducted research at the facility since 1954. The facility is used to support research associated with beef cow-calf management, pasture management, and growth physiology. Facilities are available for group feeding experiments with growing bulls and heifers, and the beef research center is a key component in the department’s beef extension activities including field days, and a department sponsored bull test and sale for area beef producers.


Click here for a Cattlemen-to-Cattlemen report on the Wye Angus herd

The APRL is part of the Upper Marlboro Research Facility, a 202 acre unit located in Prince George's County, approximately 20 miles (30 minutes) from the College Park campus. The facility was constructed in 1996 to replace the former campus poultry farm. At present there are two broiler grow-out houses that can be adapted to handle a variety of research activities ranging from nutrition to physiology to animal behavior, a combination feed handling/shop/storage/office building, and a machinery shed. The APRL is used by the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences faculty and their graduate students.

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Roselina Angel