More information here.
Welcome to Mooving Cows (TM), where you can practice mooving cows around a dairy farm. It’s time for milking, so the cows need to be moved from the pasture and barn and loaded into the milking parlor. Learn about cow behavior and practice basic cow handling skills to stay safe and keep cows calm. Based on decades of research, this game was designed by faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with help from people who work on or with real dairy farms in Wisconsin.
This educational game is completely FREE (no ads!) for download on either Android or Apple devices, hosted by the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine’s Dairy Apps
- Android: Download on Google Play
- Apple (iOS): Download in the App Store
Who is this for?
People who work on dairy farms need to handle cows on a regular basis. This includes fetching cows at milking times or separating them to provide healthcare. Throughout the U.S. dairy industry and worldwide, dairy farms participate in animal care quality assurance programs. Today, 99% of U.S. dairy farms participate in the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Animal Care program. An expectation of FARM is that anyone who works with cattle should have annual continuing education in stockmanship (cow handling).
This game is for anyone who routinely handles cows, including dairy farm workers, veterinarians, researchers, and students studying animal or dairy science. Anyone who wants to learn about cow behavior or dairy farming is also welcome to enjoy this free educational game!
Key learning objectives
Take on the role of a person working on a dairy farm and learn to speak “moo” by using your body language to moove cows effectively and efficiently. When cows are handled appropriately, their fear and stress levels are kept to a minimum. Calm cows produce more milk and behave more predictably, reducing the risk of injury to both themselves and their human caregivers.
Why a video game?
- “Serious games” have produced positive learning outcomes in contexts such as professional and military training, educational classrooms, and in health-behavior education.
- Serious games result in better learning and retention compared to conventional instructional approaches.
- Games allow players to experience situations that would be challenging to create otherwise, due to barriers such as cost, time, or safety.
- The setting will be safe for both people and cows. Animal welfare is further enhanced by replacing the use of live animals with simulated ones as players practice their skills.
Game features
- Play on mobile touchscreen devices, including phones, tablets, and Chromebooks.
- Tutorials introduce key concepts step-by-step, with narration.
- To maximize accessibility, the written text is minimal.
- Choose to play in English or Spanish. Switch between languages at any time.
- Active learning – “learning by doing”.
- Opportunities to learn by making mistakes.
- Visualization to help convey concepts, such as the “flight zone.”
- Immediate feedback on your actions, plus end -of-level feedback.
- Certificate of completion (image file), which can be used for documenting continuing education.
(Note: The reason the game asks you for your full name when you first start playing is for this certificate. If you do not wish to have a certificate with your full name, you may choose to enter something else. No data are collected on players’ names. Your identity is completely anonymous.)
Acknowledgements
- Project lead: Dr. Jennifer Van Os
- Project co-lead: Dr. Nigel Cook
- Collaborators: Drs. Dominic Ledesma, Markus Brauer, Olufunmilola Abraham
- Programmed by: Filament Games
- Funding for Version 1.0: UW-Madison Research Forward Initiative
- Funding for Version 2.0: Wisconsin Dairy Innovation Hub
- Special thanks to all those who gave feedback on the prototypes and Version 1.0, including those who work on or with Wisconsin dairy farms. Full credits appear within the game.
Our vision is for this learning tool to remain free for all dairy farms in the U.S. in the long term. If you or your organization are interested in contributing toward sustaining sponsorship of Mooving Cows to help it remain free for educational purposes, please contact: info [at] moovingcows [dot] org.
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