Beefing up communication skills of upper-level animal science students

Animal scientists are increasingly expected to communicate with the lay public, especially as they investigate solutions to improve the quality and efficiency of livestock for food production. This social expectation establishes a critical need for effective communication skills. In the present study, we investigated the communication styles and communication effectiveness of upper-level animal science students at Texas A&M University. We observed students' communication skills during an end-of-semester beef cattle production and management project presentation and identified several strengths and weaknesses. "Strengths" included in-depth animal industry knowledge, an ability to connect beef production techniques to management success, and critical thinking skills when answering questions. "Weaknesses" were the need to incorporate visual aids and/or visual slides to support findings, improve stage presence and confidence, and share responsibilities when presenting as a team. Male animal science students tended to be assertive and direct when communicating (characteristics of a driver communication style) and female students tended to be more collaborative and accommodating (characteristics of an amiable communication style). Furthermore, students' former beef cattle experiences did not influence their preferred communication style. In short, through these findings, we gained novel insight into animal science students' communication tendencies and skills, which can be used to provide curricular recommendations and improve students' workforce readiness.