Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
Attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, rabbits, finfish, shellfish, and bees. Attend to animals produced for animal products, such as meat, fur, skins, feathers, eggs, milk, and honey. Duties may include feeding, watering, herding, grazing, milking, castrating, branding, de-beaking, weighing, catching, and loading animals. May maintain records on animals; examine animals to detect diseases and injuries; assist in birth deliveries; and administer medications, vaccinations, or insecticides as appropriate. May clean and maintain animal housing areas. Includes workers who shear wool from sheep and collect eggs in hatcheries.
Sample of reported job titles:
Cowboy, Farm Hand, Farrowing Worker, Herdsman, Livestock Handler, Milking Worker, Ranch Hand, Rancher, Vaccinator, Wrangler
Occupation-Specific Information
Tasks
- Feed and water livestock and monitor food and water supplies.
- Drive trucks, tractors, and other equipment to distribute feed to animals.
- Examine animals to detect illness, injury, or disease, and to check physical characteristics, such as rate of weight gain.
- Provide medical treatment, such as administering medications and vaccinations, or arrange for veterinarians to provide more extensive treatment.
- Mix feed, additives, and medicines in prescribed portions.
Technology Skills
- Data base user interface and query software:BCL Landview Systems WinCrop,Farm Works Software Trac
- Internet browser software:Web browser software
- Office suite software:Microsoft Office
- Spreadsheet software:Microsoft Excel,Spreadsheet software
- Word processing software:Microsoft Word
Occupational Requirements
Work Activities
- Performing General Physical Activities:Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
- Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings:Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems:Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
- Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment:Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
- Handling and Moving Objects:Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
Detailed Work Activities
- Care for animals.
- Classify organisms based on their characteristics or behavior.
- Clean equipment or facilities.
- Examine animals to detect illness, injury or other problems.
- Maintain forestry, hunting, or agricultural equipment.
Work Context
- Outdoors, Exposed to Weather:65% responded"Every day"
- Exposed to Contaminants:61% responded"Every day"
- Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions:61% responded"About half the time"
- In an Enclosed Vehicle or Equipment:58% responded"Once a week or more but not every day"
- Contact With Others:57% responded"Contact with others most of the time"
Worker Requirements
Skills
- Critical Thinking:Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Monitoring:Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Listening:Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Judgment and Decision Making:Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Operation and Control:Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Knowledge
- Production and Processing:Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Biology:Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Administration and Management:Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- English Language:Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Mechanical:Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education
How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:
- 39%Some College Courses
- 25%High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
- 18%Less than a High School Diploma
- 9%Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)
- 8%Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)
Worker Characteristics
Abilities
- Problem Sensitivity:The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Control Precision:The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness:The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Deductive Reasoning:The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Oral Comprehension:The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Interests
- Realistic:Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Work Values
- Support:Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
- Relationships:Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
- Independence:Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Work Styles
- Dependability:Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
- Independence:Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
- Attention to Detail:Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
- Adaptability/Flexibility:Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
- Integrity:Job requires being honest and ethical.
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