Attend to live farm, ranch, or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, 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, 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.
U.S. Workers
35,420
Median Salary
$36,150
10-Year Growth
-5.0%
Annual Openings
31,200
Typical entry: No formal educational credential
22 of 22 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Feed and water livestock and monitor food and water supplies.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated feeders, waterers, and sensor networks can reliably deliver and monitor feed and water supplies on many modern farms without continuous human intervention.
Drive trucks, tractors, and other equipment to distribute feed to animals.
AI: Fully automatable - Autonomous tractors and vehicles with guided routing are commercially available and are capable of distributing feed across many farm environments under typical operational conditions.
Shift animals between grazing areas to ensure that they have sufficient access to food.
AI: Fully automatable - Virtual fencing and GPS-collar systems in 2025 can autonomously shift and contain livestock between grazing areas without manual herding in many production contexts.
Order food for animals, and arrange for its delivery.
AI: Fully automatable - Ordering and scheduling feed deliveries can be fully automated by farm-management software and e-commerce integrations driven by AI.
Mix feed, additives, and medicines in prescribed portions.
AI: Fully automatable - Feed mills and automated mixing systems controlled by software can precisely mix feed, additives, and medicines to prescribed formulations without human intervention.
Milk animals such as cows and goats, by hand or using milking machines.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated milking systems (robotic milkers) are mature and can fully perform milking without human intervention in many dairy operations.
Segregate animals according to weight, age, color, and physical condition.
AI: Fully automatable - Walk-over scales, RFID, automated gates and computer vision enable fully automated sorting of animals by weight, age proxies, color, and many measurable condition metrics.
Maintain growth, feeding, production, and cost records.
AI: Fully automatable - Recordkeeping and analysis for growth, feeding, production, and costs can be fully handled by software and AI that ingest sensor and manual inputs, calculate metrics, and generate reports and forecasts.
Collect, inspect, and place eggs in incubators, operate machines for egg washing, candling, and grading, and pack eggs in cartons.
AI: Fully automatable - Egg collection, washing, candling/grading and packing are widely mechanized and can be fully automated with AI vision and robotic handling in commercial poultry operations.
Trim and shear poultry beaks, toes, and wings using debeaking machines, heated hand shears, or hot wires.
AI: Fully automatable - Debeaking and related trimming are commonly performed by mechanized equipment that can be controlled and monitored by AI, enabling full automation in many production settings.
Examine animals to detect illness, injury, or disease, and to check physical characteristics, such as rate of weight gain.
AI: Partial - Sensor arrays and computer-vision/behavior models can detect many signs of illness or poor growth, but nuanced diagnosis and some subtle conditions still need human or veterinary confirmation.
Provide medical treatment, such as administering medications and vaccinations, or arrange for veterinarians to provide more extensive treatment.
AI: Partial - Automated dosing and injection systems can administer routine medications, and AI can schedule/triage treatments, but comprehensive medical treatment and complex decisions still require trained humans or veterinarians.
Perform duties related to livestock reproduction, such as breeding animals within appropriate timeframes, performing artificial inseminations, and helping with animal births.
AI: Partial - AI and sensors can detect estrus and recommend timing, but performing artificial insemination and assisting births are hands-on, skill-intensive tasks that remain human-led.
Inspect, maintain, and repair equipment, machinery, buildings, pens, yards, and fences.
AI: Partial - Predictive maintenance, diagnostics, and monitoring can be automated, but the physical inspection, hands‑on maintenance, and complex repairs of varied equipment and structures still depend on human technicians.
Move equipment, poultry, or livestock from one location to another, manually or using trucks or carts.
AI: Partial - Autonomous tractors and transport robots can move equipment and some poultry/equipment, but live animal handling and loading for trucks remains unpredictable and still requires humans.
Patrol grazing lands on horseback or using all-terrain vehicles.
AI: Partial - Drones and autonomous ATVs can patrol grazing lands in many cases, but horseback patrols cannot be automated and remote systems face terrain, reliability, and regulatory limits.
Clean stalls, pens, and equipment, using disinfectant solutions, brushes, shovels, water hoses, or pumps.
AI: Partial - Automated scrapers, pressure washers, and disinfectant applicators exist for routine cleaning, but many stall/pen tasks (detailed scrubbing, shoveling, judgment about sanitation) still need human labor.
Mark livestock to identify ownership and grade, using brands, tags, paint, or tattoos.
AI: Partial - RFID ear tags and automated tagging systems can identify and tag animals, but branding, tattooing, and some grading decisions remain manual and require skill/judgment.
Herd livestock to pastures for grazing or to scales, trucks, or other enclosures.
AI: Partial - Robotic herders, drones, and virtual-fence systems can assist movement, but reliably herding livestock into trucks/enclosures in varied conditions is still only partially automated.
Groom, clip, trim, or castrate animals, dock ears and tails, or shear coats to collect hair.
AI: Partial - Grooming and invasive procedures like castration and docking require delicate dexterity, animal handling and regulatory/ethical oversight so AI/robotics can assist but cannot fully replace skilled humans in most settings by 2025.
Spray livestock with disinfectants and insecticides, or dip or bathe animals.
AI: Partial - Automated sprayers, drones, and guided systems can apply disinfectants and insecticides and bathe animals under AI control, but variability, safety and supervision needs limit full automation in many contexts.
Protect herds from predators, using trained dogs.
AI: Partial - Sensor networks, alarms and deterrent drones can partially replace or augment predator control, but trained dogs' behavioral adaptability and on-the-spot intervention are not fully replicable by AI by 2025.