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.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Biology
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Mechanical
- Food Production
- Mathematics
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- 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.
- Inspect, maintain, and repair equipment, machinery, buildings, pens, yards, and fences.
- Move equipment, poultry, or livestock from one location to another, manually or using trucks or carts.
- Clean stalls, pens, and equipment, using disinfectant solutions, brushes, shovels, water hoses, or pumps.
- Mark livestock to identify ownership and grade, using brands, tags, paint, or tattoos.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Some College Courses (39.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (40.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (37.3%)
- 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 Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals 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 | Low | Lower on contact with others than 68% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 64% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 66% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 78% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 82% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: moderate
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: 2.78%
- Contact with others about half the time: 11.16%
- Contact with others most of the time: 57.39%
- Constant contact with others: 28.67%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 21.34%
- Fairly important: 22.49%
- Important: 1.69%
- Very important: 36.53%
- Extremely important: 17.94%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 11.45%
- Fairly important: 3.07%
- Important: 22.15%
- Very important: 36.12%
- Extremely important: 27.22%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 13.53%
- Very little freedom: 1.02%
- Limited freedom: 14.45%
- Some freedom: 17.1%
- A lot of freedom: 53.9%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 35.18%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.57%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.55%
- Every day: 1.53%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 39%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.91%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 31.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 24.95%
- Every day: 0%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 25.56%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 35.39%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.66%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.39%
- Every day: 0%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 14.66%
- Fairly serious: 29.99%
- Serious: 11.77%
- Very serious: 18.64%
- Extremely serious: 24.94%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 45-2093.00 · SOC 45-2093 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8