undergradly.
Major · Agricultural, Animal, Plant & Veterinary Sciences

The production side of raising livestock at commercial scale

Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Production trains students to select, breed, feed, house, process, and market livestock — with practical instruction in animal nutrition, herd health, facility design, and supply logistics. About 348 degrees are awarded each year across 47 colleges, almost entirely at the associate's level and concentrated in California's Central Valley and the rural Midwest.

Schools offering
47
Annual completions
348
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$49k

About this major

Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Production is the production-floor specialty within the agricultural CIP family — narrower than Animal Sciences, General (CIP 01.0901, 6,799 completions) and explicitly oriented toward commercial livestock operations rather than research, biology, or veterinary medicine. The CIP definition centers on selecting, breeding, caring for, processing, and marketing livestock and small farm animals, with applied instruction in animal nutrition, herd health, housing and feeding facility design, and the regulatory and logistics frameworks that govern modern meat, dairy, and egg supply chains.

The major is built for students who want to work in production agriculture — not study it from a distance. Coursework typically pairs classroom material on animal physiology, genetics, and nutrition with rotations through working farm or processing facilities. Programs commonly specialize by species: beef cattle production at land-grant universities serving the Plains and Texas, dairy science at California Central Valley colleges and at Wisconsin and Idaho institutions, swine production in the Midwest, and poultry science along the Arkansas-Georgia-Delmarva corridor. Students who already have farm or ranch background tend to find the curriculum a natural extension of work they've done; those without that background are usually expected to gain it through internships and lab time.

At the field level, the scale is modest — about 348 completions annually across 47 colleges — and almost entirely associate's-level: every one of the top ten programs by completions awards only two-year degrees. Career destinations cluster around the consolidated meat, dairy, and poultry industries: feedlot operators like Five Rivers Cattle Feeding and Cactus Feeders, integrators like Tyson, Smithfield, JBS-USA, Pilgrim's Pride, and Perdue, and the dairy cooperatives Land O'Lakes and Dairy Farmers of America. First-line farming supervisors earn $59,330 with 2.5% projected growth; farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers earn $87,980 (mostly entered through operational experience, not the degree); animal breeders earn $52,000 with 2.4% growth.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers $88k -1.3% High school diploma or equivalent
First-line supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers $59k +2.5% High school diploma or equivalent
Farm and home management educators $58k -2.5% Master's degree
Agricultural sciences teachers, postsecondary $86k +4.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Animal breeders $52k +2.4% High school diploma or equivalent
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$49k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$43k

Bachelor's

$56k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you've already spent meaningful time around livestock — whether on a family ranch, in a 4-H or FFA program, or in summer work at a feedlot or dairy — and want to build the technical and supervisory framework to make that work into a career. You may also fit well if you're targeting a production-management track at one of the integrators (Tyson, Smithfield, JBS, Perdue, or a dairy cooperative) and recognize that an associate's plus operational experience often beats a four-year degree from outside agriculture for those roles. You may also fit if you see this major as a transfer launchpad — completing an associate's at a Central Valley or upper-Midwest community college and then transferring into Animal Sciences (CIP 01.0901) or Pre-Vet (CIP 01.1302) at a four-year land-grant like Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, or Wisconsin. And you may fit if you're willing to relocate to a livestock corridor: Texas, the Plains, the Corn Belt, the Carolinas-Georgia poultry belt, or the Central Valley dairy region.

Think twice if your interest in animals is more biological than commercial — Animal Sciences, General is broader and more research-friendly, and Pre-Veterinary Studies is the more direct path if vet school is on the table. Think twice if you're geographically tied to a non-agricultural metro: the field's tight regional concentration is real, and remote production-management roles essentially don't exist. Think twice if earnings are the primary driver: five-year median earnings of about $48,700 are typical for production agriculture but modest compared to most four-year credentials, and the highest-paying tracked role — farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers at $87,980 — is generally reached through ownership and operational experience rather than the degree itself. And think twice if the climate-policy and consolidation pressures on livestock agriculture (methane regulation, carbon accounting, plant-based competition) feel like dealbreakers rather than industry conditions you'd want to work inside.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Animal/Livestock Husbandry and Production

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Moorpark College Moorpark, CA 27 0 27
Bakersfield College Bakersfield, CA 25 0 25
Merced College Merced, CA 24 0 24
College of the Sequoias Visalia, CA 22 0 22
Fox Valley Technical College Appleton, WI 20 0 20
Modesto Junior College Modesto, CA 19 0 19
Mt San Antonio College Walnut, CA 18 0 18
Reedley College Reedley, CA 15 0 15
Niagara County Community College Sanborn, NY 13 0 13
Mitchell Technical College Mitchell, SD 12 0 12
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Animal Sciences, General

6,799 completions/yr

Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations

3,011 completions/yr

Agricultural Business and Management, General

1,697 completions/yr

Applied Horticulture/Horticulture Operations, General

809 completions/yr

Agronomy and Crop Science

730 completions/yr

Horticultural Science

624 completions/yr

Plant Sciences, General

483 completions/yr

Agricultural Production Operations, General

458 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Animal/Livestock Husbandry majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework concentrates on the practical side of livestock production: animal nutrition, breeding and reproduction, herd-health basics, housing and ventilation design, feed-yard management, and the safety and regulatory frameworks that govern meat, dairy, and egg production. Most programs include hands-on rotations through working farm facilities — students handle cattle, swine, sheep, or poultry in supervised settings rather than studying them only in textbooks. Upper-level courses commonly specialize into beef-cattle nutrition, swine production systems, dairy-herd management, or poultry processing, depending on which industry the host college serves.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough for this major?
An associate's is the dominant credential — every one of the top ten programs by completions awards only associate's degrees, and the bachelor's level represents a much smaller slice of the major. The earnings gap is real but not dramatic: bachelor's completers report a five-year median of about $55,600 while associate's completers come in around $43,400 — roughly a $12,200 premium for two extra years. If your target role is feedlot supervision, herd management, or AI/breeding-tech work at a large operation, an associate's plus operational experience is usually enough. The bachelor's matters more if you want to compete for management-track roles at integrators like Tyson, Smithfield, or JBS, or if you're treating the major as a transfer launchpad into Animal Sciences (CIP 01.0901) or Pre-Vet (CIP 01.1302) at a four-year land-grant.
What kinds of jobs do graduates actually end up in?
Graduates land most often in production roles at the meat, dairy, and poultry companies that dominate U.S. animal agriculture: feedlot crew leads at Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, Cactus Feeders, or Friona Industries; production supervisors at Tyson, Smithfield, JBS-USA, Pilgrim's Pride, or Perdue; dairy-herd managers at Land O'Lakes or Dairy Farmers of America cooperatives; flock managers and hatchery managers in the poultry corridor of Arkansas, Georgia, and the Delmarva Peninsula. The BLS-tracked occupations include farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers ($87,980 median, but typically entered through ownership or operational experience rather than degree), first-line farming supervisors ($59,330, 2.5% growth), animal breeders ($52,000, 2.4% growth), and farm and home management educators ($58,120, declining 2.5%). Bachelor's-level entry-track wages typically run $45,000–$65,000, with senior production-system roles reaching $90,000–$130,000.
What's the honest read on the job market and earnings?
Mixed and consolidation-pressured. Farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers project a -1.3% decline through the decade — that decline is consolidation, not industry collapse: small operations are absorbed into larger ones, and the supervisory roles at those large operations are where most graduates of this major actually land. First-line farming supervisors (+2.5%) and animal breeders (+2.4%) show modest growth. Five-year median earnings of about $48,700 are honest — slightly below the cross-major average but typical for production-agriculture credentials. Climate policy (methane regulation, carbon accounting), plant-based and cellular-meat competition, and reshoring of meat processing are the structural variables to watch. Precision-livestock-farming — computer vision for cattle behavior, RFID-driven dairy production, robotic milkers from Lely and DeLaval — is the wage-growth lane within the field; routine livestock husbandry work remains durable but slow-growing.
Is this the right major, or should I look at a related one?
If you're drawn more to the biological science of animals than to commercial production, Animal Sciences, General (CIP 01.0901, 6,799 completions annually) is the broader land-grant standard with deeper coursework and more research-track options. If you want to keep veterinary school open as a path, Pre-Veterinary Studies (CIP 01.1302) is the more direct on-ramp. If your interest is the business side — buying, selling, marketing, financing farm operations — Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations (CIP 01.0102, 3,011 completions) aligns more closely. Equine Studies (CIP 01.0507) covers the horse industry specifically. This major (01.0302) is the right fit if commercial livestock production — beef, pork, dairy, poultry — is the specific destination, not animal biology research, not veterinary medicine, not crop production.
Where are the jobs geographically — does location matter?
It matters a lot. Livestock production clusters tightly: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska for beef cattle and feedlots; Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Illinois for swine; Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Delmarva Peninsula for poultry; California's Central Valley, Wisconsin, New York, and Idaho for dairy. The top schools in this major reflect those geographies — California community colleges like Modesto Junior, Merced, Reedley, and College of the Sequoias serve the dairy and beef Central Valley; Mitchell Technical College in South Dakota and Fox Valley Technical College in Wisconsin serve the upper-Midwest livestock corridor. Graduates who are willing to relocate to a livestock-dense region see the most opportunity; those tied to non-agricultural metros will find the field's geographic concentration a real constraint.