A screenshot from the Mooving Cows game app. Users select their avatar and language and begin “playing” through various scenarios. To advance to the next level, they must demonstrate successfully mastering the task at hand – such as moving cows from one location to another.
Jennifer Van Os
Assistant Professor | Animal and Dairy Sciences
UW–Madison
Project title: “Mooving Cows: An innovative tool for diverse audiences to learn dairy cow handling practices”
Funding began July 2023
A new educational video game called “Mooving Cows,” which gives dairy workers and anyone interested the opportunity to practice cow handling skills, is now publicly available to download and play. The free game was developed by UW–Madison researchers and is available in both the iOS (Apple) and Google Play (Android) app stores.
The idea for the game arose from feedback received from Wisconsin dairy farmers, explains Jennifer Van Os, assistant professor and extension specialist in the UW–Madison Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Over the years, says Van Os, she has heard from numerous farmers seeking better training options for milkers and other staff members on proper cow handling – ways to move cows through dairy facilities that help ensure worker safety, while minimizing cow stress and injury.
Compared to currently available training articles and videos, the video game format allows for a more active, engaging learning experience. In the game, players focus on practicing routine cow movement in simulated milking parlor, pasture, and freestall pen environments. Players learn how their actions affect cow behavior, stress and milk production.
The game was developed based on decades of research and with input from over 60 people in the Wisconsin dairy community, including dairy farm owners, milkers, dairy consultants and veterinarians.
The game can be played in English or Spanish, and it takes around 30 minutes to complete. People who successfully complete all levels receive a certificate of completion. This certificate can be used as documentation for the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Animal Care Program, which requires everyone with animal handling roles on dairy farms to have annual continuing education on proper animal handling.
An additional objective of the project was to evaluate the potential relevance of the game for other audiences, namely students in classroom settings. Undergraduates in an intro animal science course, vet students in a dairy skills rotation, and youth (grades 4-10) in 4-H groups played the game, and researchers found that they also learned from and enjoyed the experience.
Funding to develop Mooving Cows came from the UW Dairy Innovation Hub and the Research Forward initiative hosted by the UW–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education.
Mooving Cows has been downloaded more than 12,000 times in nearly 120 countries, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.0 on both Google Play and Apple Apps.
In addition to Van Os, Nigel Cook, Dominic Ledesma, Markus Brauer, and Olufunmilola Abraham collaborated on the game.
The vision is for this learning tool to remain free for all dairy farms in the U.S. in the long term.
EXPLORE ONLINE
Learn more about the Mooving Cows project at moovingcows.org
This article was adapted with permission from UW–Madison CALS.