Video game teaches cow-handling practices

MADISON, Wis. — A video game will soon be available to help dairymen train employees how to properly handle cows in their operations.

“The research I do is driven by stakeholder needs and the most common request I got was to go to dairy farms to train employees on proper cow-handling practices,” said Jennifer Van Os, assistant professor and Extension specialist in animal welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Animal & Dairy Sciences.

Van Os was a bit surprised at this request, but also not surprised at the same time. “I wasn’t surprised because we know cow handling is critical and something that effects both animal and employee well-being,” she said during an educational seminar at the World Dairy Expo.

“Research shows when you handle cattle properly it can reduce the risk of injuries to personnel and injuries to cattle as well as cattle stress levels,” she said. “That in turn can affect the efficiency of the milking parlor operation as well as the cows’ productivity.”

However, Van Os was surprised by this request since there are a lot of well-designed resources that teach people about appropriate cattle-handling practices and many are free. “So, I got the idea that maybe we needed something that is more hands-on, interactive and engaging than videos,” she added.

That resulted in the development of Mooving Cows. “There is a growing field of serious gaming and these games have been shown to produce positive learning outcomes,” the university professor said. “Now, the military, workplaces and classrooms are using them.”

The reason these educational games work, Van Os said, is because they are interactive. “People are more engaged when they go through the experience,” she stated. “And you have opportunities to learn concepts, apply them and practice skills.”

As a result, serious games produce better learning and retention compared to more conventional instructions like lectures or watching videos, the speaker noted.

Van Os started the development of Mooving Cows in 2021. “We hired a local video game programming company in Madison that specializes in educational video games,” she explained. “I did the learning objective and content and the company did the artwork and automation of the game mechanics.”

During the development of the game, different focus groups evaluated it including Wisconsin dairy farm owners, bilingual consultants and veterinarians. “We had them play the game and we got feedback on ways to improve it,” Van Os said.

Mooving Cows is available in both English and Spanish and it is played on a touch-screen tablet.

Van Os talked about the main learning objectives of the game. “When you use inappropriate practices with dairy cows, this can increase the cow’s fear and stress levels which can result in a decrease of milk production,” she said. “But also when cows are fearful or more stressed, their behavior can become more unpredictable and dangerous which can reduce the safety of the workers.”

At the end of each level of the game, players get a score and if they caused too much cow stress, they fail the level and have to try again.

“When they pass a level they see the accumulating stress level and how that translated into milk production compared to 100% of the potential,” she said.

After completing all eight levels of the game, the game player receives a certificate of completion.

A video game provides active rather than passive learning. “When you’re playing the game, you’re participating, engaging and learning by doing,” the speaker said. “Games allow you to incorporate visualization to help convey concepts that might be invisible in real life.”

Games also give players immediate feedback. “They allow you to mimic situations that are challenging to experience in real life because it is too expensive, there’s not enough time or it could be dangerous,” Van Os said. “They provide a controlled, safe environment where you can deliberately make mistakes and learn from those in a way you can’t do in real life.”

Van Os does not think a game can replace hands-on, real-life experience. “But there are certain situations that you might not encounter on the day of a hands-on training,” she added.

For example, a cow in heat in the free stall pen. “You need to watch out for these cows and not turn your back on them,” she explained. “We can program that into the game.”

Earlier this year in April, another round of testing of the game was done at three farms with 25 people that included both English and Spanish speakers. “On average, it took people about 36 minutes to complete the game and I think that’s a tad too long,” the university professor said.

“Time is a barrier to training on farms so I would like for average game completion to be less than 30 minutes,” Van Os said.

“We are expecting to release the game publicly in App stores by the end of the year and ideally it will be free,” the speaker said.

Mooving Cows may be just the beginning for educational games. “We have a list of where this could go in the future — sorting cows, getting cows into headlocks, loading trailers, etc.” Van Os said. “One thing that came out the focus groups was a request for more training for the calving pen.”