Animal Breeders
Select and breed animals according to their genealogy, characteristics, and offspring. May require knowledge of artificial insemination techniques and equipment use. May involve keeping records on heats, birth intervals, or pedigree.
1,330 people do this job in the US. $51,130 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 33%
- 0%
- 67%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 19%. Today's estimate: 24%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Select animals to be bred, and semen specimens to be used, according to knowledge of animals, genealogies, traits, and desired offspring characteristics.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 26% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | 65%Half by now | |
| Feed and water animals, and clean and disinfect pens, cages, yards, and hutches.Done daily by most who do it. | 17% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Exercise animals to keep them in healthy condition.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe animals in heat to detect approach of estrus and exercise animals to induce or hasten estrus, if necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Purchase and stock supplies of feed and medicines.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 8% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Inject prepared animal semen into female animals for breeding purposes, by inserting nozzle of syringe into vagina and depressing syringe plunger.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine animals to detect symptoms of illness or injury.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Maintain logs of semen specimens used and animals bred.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Exhibit animals at shows.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Bathe and groom animals.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Arrange for sale of animals and eggs to hospitals, research centers, pet shops, and food processing plants.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Build hutches, pens, and fenced yards.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 2% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals2% now, 2% by 2028
- Animal Caretakers11% now, 16% by 2028
- Animal Trainers1% now, 1% by 2028
- Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers18% now, 19% by 2028
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers12% now, 45% by 2028
- Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse4% now, 4% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).