An animal science graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln wants to improve cattle handler safety and skill level. Morgan Marquardt wants to better understand the relationship between a cattle handler’s skill level and years of experience, specifically in terms of safety and animal welfare.
“It's something that industry is just really lacking, it’s a huge gap,” Marquardt said. “I know that experience is valuable, I don't feel that it provides a holistic picture of how skilled someone is at working with animals. I want to illustrate the need for something more holistic, something that captures every aspect that goes into skill.”
The study will utilize a skill assessment tool, developed by her advisor Ruth Woiwode, which will measure handler’s skill level more intentionally.
A skill assessment tool that will measure handler experience is in development. According to Marquardt, this is foundational research for the practice.
“It's so important to objectively quantify how it impacts safety,” Marquardt said. “From a science perspective, it's important to be objective, which is why we've designed this to be as objective as possible.”
The hope is to improve knowledge about handler skill to increase animal and human safety.
“As far as the farmers, I really hope that people can have an increased sense of safety at work,” Marquardt said. “Years of experience is just not a super accurate and reliable metric. In my opinion it is even dangerous, because it doesn't really tell us everything about how skilled someone is. That could make it hard to select skilled employees to work with people's animals.”
Marquardt began her graduate program in January. She works alongside Woiwode.
“People and animals both have inherent value just because they were born, they're valuable,” Marquardt said. “Finding ways to keep people safer and help them to better care for animals respects the value for both members of that relationship.”