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19-1011.00 - Animal Scientists


Conduct research in the genetics, nutrition, reproduction, growth, and development of domestic farm animals.


Key Facts
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Bright Outlook
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
2,900
Estimate
Forecasted Employment
3,200
Estimate
Change in Employment
200.0
Estimate
Change in Employment %
+7.3%
Estimate
Tasks
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Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
  • Conduct research concerning animal nutrition, breeding, or management to improve products or processes.
  • Advise producers about improved products and techniques that could enhance their animal production efforts.
  • Study nutritional requirements of animals and nutritive values of animal feed materials.
  • Study effects of management practices, processing methods, feed, or environmental conditions on quality and quantity of animal products, such as eggs and milk.
  • Develop improved practices in feeding, housing, sanitation, or parasite and disease control of animals.
  • Research and control animal selection and breeding practices to increase production efficiency and improve animal quality.
  • Determine genetic composition of animal populations and heritability of traits, using principles of genetics.
  • Crossbreed animals with existing strains or cross strains to obtain new combinations of desirable characteristics.
  • Write up or orally communicate research findings to the scientific community, producers, and the public.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge
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Knowledge

The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
 Biology
  • 93%
    Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
 English Language
  • 85%
    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
 Chemistry
  • 81%
    Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
 Mathematics
  • 81%
    Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
 Food Production
  • 81%
    Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
 Education and Training
  • 80%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
 Computers and Electronics
  • 67%
    Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
 Administration and Management
  • 65%
    Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
 Customer and Personal Service
  • 64%
    Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
 Production and Processing
  • 62%
    Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
 Sales and Marketing
  • 60%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
 Engineering and Technology
  • 60%
    Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
 Communications and Media
  • 58%
    Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
 Physics
  • 57%
    Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.
 Transportation
  • 56%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
 Law and Government
  • 55%
    Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
 Clerical
  • 54%
    Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
 Economics and Accounting
  • 54%
    Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
 Public Safety and Security
  • 54%
    Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
 Medicine and Dentistry
  • 52%
    Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
 Personnel and Human Resources
  • 50%
    Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
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Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Weight measuring instruments
  • Analytic balances
  • Cattle scales
  • Electronic laboratory balances
  • Livestock scales
  • Triple beam balances
 Clinical and diagnostic analyzers and accessories and supplies
  • Animal blood analyzers
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA sequencers
 Poultry and livestock equipment
  • Animal catching equipment
  • Animal feed mixers
  • Animal feeders
  • Animal heater lamps
  • Artificial insemination kits
  • Brooders
  • Calf pullers
  • Cattle squeeze chutes
  • Computerized cattle feeders
  • Dehorners
  • Ear punches
  • Poultry incubators
 Spectroscopic equipment
  • Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
  • Fluorescence spectrophotometers
  • Infrared IR spectrometers
  • Ultraviolet UV visible spectrophotometers
 Laboratory incubating equipment
  • Automatic carbon dioxide CO2 incubators
  • Tissue culture incubators
 Veterinary equipment
  • Balling guns
  • Veterinary emasculators
 Laboratory centrifuges and accessories
  • Benchtop centrifuges
  • Microcentrifuges
  • Microultracentrifuges
  • Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges
  • Ultracentrifuges
 Syringes and accessories
  • Blood collection syringes
 Temperature and heat measuring instruments
  • Bomb calorimeters
  • Calorimeters
  • Handheld digital thermometers
 Laboratory heating and drying equipment
  • Bunsen burners
  • Hot plate stirrers
 Harness goods
  • Calf restraints
 Killing and defeathering department machinery and equipment
  • Captive bolt stunners
  • Electric stunners
 Laboratory baths
  • Circulating water baths
  • Laboratory water baths
  • Orbital shaking water baths
  • Ultrasonic water baths
 Electrochemical measuring instruments and accessories
  • Conductance meters
 Computers
  • Desktop computers
  • Laptop computers
  • Personal computers
 Histology equipment
  • Dissecting kits
 General laboratory glassware and plasticware and supplies
  • Erlenmeyer flasks
  • Graduated beakers
  • Graduated cylinders
  • Volumetric flasks
 Specimen collection and transport containers and supplies
  • Evacuated blood collection tubes
  • Specimen collection containers
 Pharmaceutical industry machinery and equipment and supplies
  • Fiber digesters
 Laboratory electrophoresis and blotting system and supplies
  • Fraction collectors
  • Gel electrophoresis equipment
  • Slab dryers
 Laboratory freeze dryers and lyopholizers and accessories
  • Freeze dryers
 Chromatographic measuring instruments and accessories
  • Gas chromatographs GC
  • High pressure liquid chromatograph HPLC equipment
 Pipettes and liquid handling equipment and supplies
  • Glass pipettes
 Laboratory blending and dispersing and homogenizing equipment and supplies
  • Homogenizers
 Laboratory ovens and accessories
  • Hybridization chambers
  • Laboratory drying ovens
  • Laboratory vacuum ovens
 Chemical evaluation instruments and supplies
  • Hydrometers
 Viewing and observing instruments and accessories
  • Imaging microscopes
  • Optical compound microscopes
 Laboratory enclosures and accessories
  • Laboratory fume hoods
  • Laminar flow cabinets
 Laboratory pumps and tubing
  • Laboratory vacuum pumps
 Fluid mechanics equipment
  • Laser densitometers
  • Liquid scintillation counters
  • Scanning densitometers
 Food cutting machinery
  • Meat choppers
 Food preparation equipment
  • Meat grinders
 Laboratory microscope slides and supplies
  • Microscope slides
 Indicating and recording instruments
  • Oxygen meters
 Tissue culture and high throughput screening supplies
  • Petri dishes
 Polymerase chain reaction PCR and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction RT PCR products
  • Polymerase chain reaction PCR equipment
 Calculating machines and accessories
  • Scientific calculators
 Autoclave and sterilizer equipment and accessories
  • Steam autoclaves
 Medical ultrasound and doppler and echo imaging products
  • Ultrasound probes
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
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Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Industry specific software
  • Autodesk AutoCADHOT
  • Best Linear Unbiased Prediction BLUP
  • Cowculator
  • COWGAME
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA sequence analysis software
  • FEEDLOT CALC
  • Master Ration Calculator
  • Nutrition Balance Analyzer NUTBAL
  • SASHOT
  • VSNi ASReml
  • VSNi GenStat
 Data management and query software
  • DAGRIS
  • Database software
  • Domestic Animal Diversity Information Service DAD-IS
  • Microsoft AccessHOT
  • Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals OMIA
  • Structured query language SQLHOT
  • TableauHOT
 Information exchange software
  • Email software
  • ESRI ArcGIS softwareHOT
 Content authoring and editing software
  • Microsoft ExcelHOT
  • Microsoft PowerPointHOT
  • Microsoft WordHOT
  • Word processing software
 Business function specific software
  • Microsoft OfficeHOT
 Finance accounting and enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Oracle PeopleSoftHOT
 Operating environment software
  • Palm OSHOT
 Network applications software
  • Web browser software
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
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Certifications
FastForward at Virginia's Community Colleges is a short-term training program for high-demand industries, like healthcare, information technology, and skilled trades and infrastructure, helping Virginians get the jobs and salaries they need. Our goal is to get you trained, help you earn your certification, and get you into a career that can support you and your family. Explore the latest training program offerings by visiting FastForward
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
 Specialty
 Advanced
 Core
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing
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Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs
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Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
INSTITUTION
PROGRAMS
Germanna Community College
 Programs
Paul D. Camp Community College
 Programs
Virginia Highlands Community College
 Programs