Updating obsolete animal handling facilities to improve human and animal safety and well-being and improve research outcomes

To expand teaching, outreach, and research capabilities for research involving cattle, and improve the safety and well-being of people and animals using the cattle handling facilities in the Marvel Baker Animal Science Complex.To accomplish these goals, our objectives include the following:Initiate research, instruction, and outreach activities focused cattle hoof health, including hands-on instruction in hoof-trimming techniquesDevelop facility-specific digital safety training curriculum for use by institutional and external environmental health professionalsInitiate research focused on behavioral and physiological responses of cattle to components of facility design and handling practices, including an economic analysisAssemble a team to lead research focused on describing animal and facility aspects of animal-related worker injuriesSupport research teams working to identify differences in risk by gender, skill level, training, and facility type for cattle workersInitiate monitoring of facility-specific animal and worker injuries to identify differences due to elements of facility design, level and type of training, and documented skill level, including an economic analysisInitiate monitoring of facility-specific animal behavior to identify differences due to elements of facility design or handling practices, including an economic analysisDevelop guidelines and recommendations for facility-specific best practices for acclimating and handling research cattle to mitigate the effects of handling stress on physiological measures collected during research across disciplinesDevelop guidelines and recommendations for facility-specific best practices for teaching and demonstrations involving cattle by all disciplinesMonitor and report instances of animal injuries requiring treatment or withdrawal from research trials (this information was not previously reported, and would be a valuable metric for any livestock research center)Monitor and report instances cattle each year receiving preventive or corrective hoof trimmingMonitor and report number of staff required for handling events and associated costs (reduction) due to renovation.