Description
Care for dairy cattle and support milk production operations. Duties include feeding and watering herds; operating and sanitizing milking parlors and equipment; monitoring animal health, breeding cycles, and calving; and administering medications, vaccinations, and insect control. May clean and maintain barns, stalls, calf housing, and manure systems; move and sort cattle; and maintain records of milk yield, treatments, feed, and costs. May assist with artificial insemination, newborn calf care, dehorning, and hoof care; operate tractors and other equipment to mix and deliver feed.
- • Feed and water dairy cattle; mix TMR and monitor feed and water availability.
- • Operate tractors, skid steers, loaders, and feed mixers to deliver rations.
- • Milk cows on schedule; operate, sanitize, and monitor milking parlors and pipelines.
- • Pre- and post-dip teats; attach and remove units; ensure proper letdown and milk flow.
- • Cool, store, and transfer milk; monitor bulk tank temperature and cleanliness.
- • Observe cows and calves for signs of illness, lameness, heat, or mastitis.
- • Administer medications, vaccines, dry-off treatments, and mastitis therapies as directed.
- • Move and sort cattle among pens, parlors, maternity, calf, and hospital areas.
- • Assist with calving; provide newborn care, colostrum, navel dipping, and tagging.
- • Detect heat and assist with breeding or artificial insemination; record breeding dates.
- • Group animals by production stage, health status, and age; isolate sick or fresh cows.
- • Clean and bed stalls; scrape alleys; manage bedding and manure handling.
- • Wash and sanitize parlors, lines, equipment, calf bottles, hutches, and waterers.
- • Inspect and maintain fences, gates, waterers, fans, scrapers, and barn systems.
- • Assist with hoof care, udder clipping, dehorning/disbudding, and castration of bull calves as directed.
- • Collect milk samples; monitor SCC and mastitis indicators; follow milk quality protocols.
- • Maintain accurate herd records for milk production, treatments, calvings, feed, and inventory.
- • Monitor feed inventory; coordinate orders and deliveries with suppliers.
- • Follow biosecurity, animal welfare, worker safety, and environmental compliance procedures.
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Agriculture
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
