Livestock Worker Training

Dairy producers are increasingly aware of the costs of impaired worker health on the costs of operation, as well as health problems contributing to the impermanence of the workforce on dairy operations. Many Colorado dairy producers have identified worker training as their most pressing need from university extension and outreach programs. Specifically, many producers have requested development and implementation of worker training programs that integrate technical skills and worker safety.

Livestock worker training is one of the primary missions of the Integrated Livestock Management program. The livestock worker training tools currently offered by the program include generation and distribution of standard operating procedure guidelines for necropsy techniques, diagnostic sample collection for common diseases, dairy parlor personnel (milker) workshops and calving management schools. Training modules that were developed include foot care and lameness diagnosis, sick cow evaluation, and heat detection/reproductive management.

In these training modules, we aim to provide a background of the relevant fundamental anatomic and physiologic features of the cow as well as a step-by-step, hands-on training process that covers the proper technical skills. The participation of the producer and herd veterinarian is critical to help the program’s personnel to tailor these training sessions to fit the unique needs of each participating dairy. The sessions are conducted in both English and Spanish. Worker safety comprises a significant objective of these educational programs, with the ultimate goal being to train dairy workers to perform their assigned tasks in a more skillful, effective, efficient, and safe manner.

Emphasis on safe methods of performing the tasks we demonstrate and safe application of the skills that we teach would be of obvious benefit to both the worker (reduced injury and fewer workdays lost to injury) as well as to the producer (reduced worker compensation and reduced worker turnover). Thus, as young, untrained workers gain entry-level employment in the Colorado dairy industry, a combined livestock production education and safety education initiative would enable them to:

1. Increase their value to prospective employers.
2. Enter dairy employment with greater general knowledge of livestock health and production, possibly limiting employee turnover due to poor performance.
3. Perform high-risk tasks such as milking, moving cows and bulls, and drug administration with greater efficiency, skill, and personal safety, thereby reducing injury claims.

Worker safety training on Colorado dairies appears to vary tremendously in scope and formality. In order to develop the best strategy for incorporation of worker safety into existing and future worker training programs, Integrated Livestock Management team members must first clarify the most critical needs for safety education. In light of the findings of previous dairy worker injury studies, safe milking and animal handling techniques would appear to be important components of a training program for entry-level dairy workers. Rather than construct a program on perceived needs, however, the Integrated Livestock Management team has conducted a survey on Colorado dairies to determine the following critical benchmarks:

1. The livestock experience of these workers.
2. The nature of training procedures currently in place.
3. The type of workplace injuries and illnesses commonly encountered.
4. A critique from the workers and management of the strengths and deficiencies of current training methods.

A summary of these findings was published in the November 2004 CDN.

This study enables the Integrated Livestock Management team to accurately assess and remedy design flaws in current safety training, as well as incorporate identification and avoidance of the most relevant injury hazards into worker education programs.

Dr. Noa Román-Muñiz performed this worker safety training study as the focal point of her master’s project on adult education in the dairy workforce. She presently coordinates the bilingual livestock worker training program offered through Integrated Livestock Management and the Department of Animal Sciences.