By Jamie Martin
Understanding how livestock see and experience their surroundings is important for improving animal welfare and handler safety. A new training tool is helping animal handlers gain understanding in a practical and meaningful way.
“The simulators allow the person that is wearing them to see the world like a cow would or a pig would or a horse would,” said Ashlynn Kirk, program manager of HHI and a UWRF alum. “We wanted to incorporate them into our training for animal handling to build empathy and help people who handle livestock get a better idea what cattle are seeing and experiencing as they move through a facility.”
Augmented reality goggles are now being used in livestock training programs to simulate how animals such as cattle pigs and horses view the world. When wearing goggles, participants experience limited color vision, wide peripheral sight, and increased sensitivity to light and shadows like what animals experience every day.
Cattle do not see colors the same way humans do. Their vision is limited mainly to shades of yellow and blue. They also take longer to adjust to changes in lighting. These differences help explain why animals may stop hesitating or show fear in certain areas of barns chutes or handling facilities.
By experiencing these visual challenges, firsthand handlers better understand how facility design lighting contrast and human movement affect animal behavior. This knowledge allows them to make simple changes that reduce stress such as adjusting lighting, improving layout, or changing where handlers stand.
The simulator technology required careful setup and technical support before it could be used in training sessions. Once in place, it quickly became a valuable teaching tool. Participants reported a clearer understanding of animal reactions and said the experience changed how they approach livestock movement.
“Our mission is to improve animal welfare, worker safety and trust in food animal agriculture through robust and meaningful education, outreach and research,” said Kurt Vogel, a professor of animal welfare and behavior at UWRF and the director of HHI.
“The immediate response of nearly every person that has used the virtual reality system is simply ‘Wow!’ Ashlynn’s efforts to bring this technology to North America through her work in the Humane Handling Institute is nothing short of game changing for animal handlers in our part of the world. I’m so excited to see the effects this technology will have,” said Vogel.
The goal of these training programs is to create low stress environments that benefit both animals and people. Calmer animals are easier to handle safer for workers and move more smoothly through facilities. The use of virtual reality in livestock education shows how modern technology can support better animal care and stronger farm operations across the agriculture industry.
Categories: National