Animal Handling: Dairy

Dairy Stockmanship is a practice which promotes positive animal handling. Stockmanship is important for both animal and worker safety. It reduces stress, increasing milk production and reducing potential injuries on the farm.

UMASH has developed a variety of resources (videos, posters, and fact sheets) to help promote positive animal handling practices to keep workers safe.

5-Part Dairy Training Series

These guides are intended for training by farmers, ranchers, farm employees, veterinarians, human resources training staff and those involved with worker health and safety training/education.

The guides can be a tool for training and retraining workers. The materials can be used in small groups or individually. There is a short quiz at the end of each video to check your understanding. After completing the five videos and related quizzes, a certificate of completion is available for printing.

VIDEOS

UMASH has developed a 5-part video series on Dairy Stockmanship. The videos are an educational resource intended for farmers, ranchers, farm employees, veterinarians, human resources training staff and those involved with worker health and safety training/education. The videos demonstrate stockmanship principles when working with dairy cattle. They include:

  • Using Predictable Animal Behavior to Increase Milk Production
  • How a Cow Uses Her Senses
  • Working with the Pressure Zone
  • Moving Cows More Effectively
  • Making the Milking Parlor a Happy Place

These videos are provided for informational and educational purposes only. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of CDC/NIOSH or any other funders.

View the videos directly on our site by clicking on them below, or download the video by right-clicking the “Download mp4” link below the video and saving the file.

CLASSROOM LESSON PLANS:

A downloadable lesson plan is available for each of the video topics. These are a useful resource to help ag educators bring safety and health to the classroom.

Lesson plans can be downloaded with each video below.

PART 1
Using Predictable Animal Behavior to Increase Milk Production
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Download mp4

DOWNLOAD LESSON PLAN (pdf)

PART 2
How a Cow Uses Her Senses
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Download mp4

DOWNLOAD LESSON PLAN (pdf)

 

PART 3
Working with the Pressure Zone
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Download mp4

DOWNLOAD LESSON PLAN (pdf)

PART 4
Moving Cows More Effectively
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Download mp4

DOWNLOAD LESSON PLAN (pdf)

 

PART 5
Making the Milking Parlor a Happy Place
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Download mp4

DOWNLOAD LESSON PLAN (pdf)

PRIMERA PARTE
Cómo Tomar Ventaja del Comportamiento Natural de los Animales para Mejorar la Producción de Leche
Release Date: January 8, 2016
Download mp4

SEGUNDA PARTE
Cómo la Vaca Utiliza sus Sentidos
Release Date: January 8, 2016
Download mp4

 

TERCERA PARTE
Trabajando con la Zona de Presión
Release Date: January 8, 2016
Download mp4

CUARTA PARTE
Cómo Mover las Vaca con Más Eficacia
Release Date: January 8, 2016
Download mp4

 

QUINTA PARTE
Cómo Convertir la Sala de Ordeño en un Lugar Agradable
Release Date: January 8, 2016
Download mp4

POSTERS AND FACT SHEET

Repetitive Motion Injuries: [noun]

Injuries due to performing the same motion over and over. These conditions are due to overuse, without adequate recovery. Low back strain due to repeated lifting, especially with poor technique, is an example.

– Suzanne Tanner, M.D. (Mayo Clinic)

We encourage you to share these resources with your colleagues and anyone you know who may benefit..  In addition to the downloads on our website, the materials are also available on DVD, which includes additional UMASH safety resources. For more information on these and other resources, or to request a DVD, please contact Carol Peterson at ctrefry@umn.edu.