The impact of an introductory animal handling course on undergraduate students who lack previous livestock handling experience.

A majority of animal science undergraduates have limited livestock handling experience when they come to college. To address this issue, a course based on livestock handling, safety, and welfare was implemented in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University. This study aimed to (i) determine whether the course was effective at improving the comfort level of a student while handling livestock and (ii) identify demographic factors that contributed to student performance in the course. The course was delivered as an 8-wk, lecture-laboratory format. Each semester, a precourse survey and precourse exam were administered during the first class period (N = 87). The survey collected self-reported demographic information, prior livestock handling experience, and comfort level by specie. The exam tested the prior knowledge of each student. At the semester conclusion, a postcourse survey and postcourse exam were given to determine whether the course was effective at improving comfort and knowledge levels of each student, respectively (N = 75). Students from farm backgrounds outscored urban students by 5.56 ± 2.96% on the precourse exam (P = 0.06). Cumulative grade point average at the time of the course (GPA) had a role in the preexam score (P = 0.003) while gender, semester, involvement in 4H (cooperative extension program) or Future Farmers of America (FFA), and high school or collegiate judging were not factors in the preexam score (P > 0.10). Background and student rank did not have an effect on the postcourse exam score (P = 0.96 and P = 0.58, respectively). As expected, GPA was significant when fit as a covariate (P < 0.001) in the postcourse exam model. Upon course completion, students reported that their comfort level while handling livestock had increased for all livestock species. The largest increases were observed with poultry (37.8% to 66.9%) and dairy (49.3% to 84.3%). Of the 75 students polled, 96% felt that the hands-on approach was beneficial at reinforcing lecture material, and 100% reported that they were more likely to voluntarily interact with livestock inside or outside of the classroom setting after course completion. In conclusion, some demographic attributes play a role in student performance at the beginning of the course, but these factors are no longer significant after completion of the course. In addition, the level of comfort with and knowledge of livestock handling, safety, and welfare all improved, which shows that the course was successful at achieving the intended learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]