Animal Breeders
Select and breed animals according to their genealogy, characteristics, and offspring. May require knowledge of artificial insemination techniques and equipment use. May involve keeping records on heats, birth intervals, or pedigree.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Science
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Biology
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Production and Processing
- English Language
What the work involves
- Feed and water animals, and clean and disinfect pens, cages, yards, and hutches.
- Examine animals to detect symptoms of illness or injury.
- Select animals to be bred, and semen specimens to be used, according to knowledge of animals, genealogies, traits, and desired offspring characteristics.
- Treat minor injuries and ailments and contact veterinarians to obtain treatment for animals with serious illnesses or injuries.
- Observe animals in heat to detect approach of estrus and exercise animals to induce or hasten estrus, if necessary.
- Record animal characteristics such as weights, growth patterns, and diets.
- Build hutches, pens, and fenced yards.
- Brand, tattoo, or tag animals to allow animal identification.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (85.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (47.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (52.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Animal Breeders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 97% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Occasional contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 71% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 98% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 98% of occupations compared | 94% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 99% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 99% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 78% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 38.09%
- Contact with others about half the time: 19.57%
- Contact with others most of the time: 13.42%
- Constant contact with others: 28.92%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 14.06%
- Very important: 14.06%
- Extremely important: 29.44%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 34.69%
- Fairly important: 18.36%
- Important: 0.73%
- Very important: 27.91%
- Extremely important: 18.31%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 5.64%
- A lot of freedom: 94.36%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 47.82%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.42%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.18%
- Every day: 14.58%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 31.93%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.73%
- Every day: 0%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 0%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 21.76%
- Fairly serious: 6.49%
- Serious: 13.42%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 58.33%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2018
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O*NET-SOC 45-2021.00 · SOC 45-2021 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8