Programs in animal science teach people the biology and production of animal agriculture. Students learn to feed, breed, and care for farm and ranch animals. They learn to convert animal products into food and to market products to retailers and consumers. They also study safety and environmental regulations.

Have you ever read the Upton Sinclair novel "The Jungle"? It's about abuses in the meat-packing industry in Chicago around the beginning of the 20th century. As a result of this novel, the federal government cracked down and made this industry more humane for the animals and safer and more truthful for consumers.

Programs in animal sciences have come a long way from that time. Your study in animal sciences will cover the scientific principles of breeding, raising, and sometimes slaughtering animals and livestock. You also study how to process food products as well as marketing agricultural animals and their products.

In some programs, you can concentrate on a specific breed of animal or an aspect of animal agriculture. For instance, you can concentrate your studies on raising dairy cattle or poultry animals (chickens and turkeys, for instance). Or, you can focus on processing livestock for food and food products. Some programs have a more scientific focus. This means you can study animal biology. For example, you can study animal nutrition, reproduction, behavior, or genetics.

Animal scientists need at least four years of college. Animal science technicians usually need two years of college with an emphasis on science and math. For both, you will need lab courses and direct experience with animals. A degree in animal science gives you many career options. You can work in livestock production, raising beef cattle and swine. Or you can work in sales and marketing for an agribusiness or food company.

About 190 schools offer programs specifically in animal science. In addition, every state has a land grant college that offers agricultural science programs. Many other colleges and universities also offer courses in animal science. When two-year colleges offer certificate and associate degrees, students can often transfer the credits to a four-year school. Master's degrees typically take five or six years of full-time study after high school. Doctoral degree programs typically take about three to five years after the master's degree. Most people with graduate degrees in animal science become professors or researchers.

Students who major in animal sciences may choose to focus on certain types of animals or certain phases of production and care.