Livestock worker
Care for livestock on broad-acre and mixed farms, including feeding, mustering and yard work.
Registration: Firearms licence (state-issued) and ChemCert AQF Level 3 are commonly required; manual driver licence and HR for some roles
Jobs, demand and who does this work
Figures for the ANZSCO occupation Mixed Crop and Livestock Farm Worker (841611), the closest official match for livestock worker, from Your Career (Jobs and Skills Australia data, sourced 2026-09-23).
- People employed
- 4,100
- Future demand
- Stable
- Work full-time
- 55%
- Average full-time hours
- 46 a week
- Women
- 31%
- Median age
- 26
Where the jobs are (share of workers)
| NSW | 15.8% |
| VIC | 21% |
| QLD | 27.2% |
| WA | 9.8% |
| SA | 17.5% |
| TAS | 4.2% |
| ACT | 2.2% |
| NT | 2.3% |
Highest qualification held by workers
| Postgraduate qualification | 0.8% |
| Bachelor degree | 6% |
| Diploma or advanced diploma | 5.7% |
| Certificate I-IV | 26.8% |
| Year 12 | 21.3% |
| Below Year 12 | 34.3% |
What a livestock worker actually does
Days start before sunrise on most stations and dairies. A typical morning runs a stock check by motorbike, ute or horse, then feeding, watering, troughs and fence runs. Mid-morning rolls into yard work: drafting, drenching, ear-tagging, weighing, marking, dipping or loading trucks for sale or transport. After lunch you might be on a tractor cutting and baling hay, repairing fences, clearing scrub or servicing pumps and bores. During lambing, calving, shearing or weaning the day stretches well past dark and into weekends. On remote stations you live on the property in shared quarters, work six days a week and ride into town once a week for supplies. Dairy operations split into two milking shifts a day, with the first starting at 4 or 5am. Hours are physical, dusty and sometimes bloody. Some weeks are quiet, but the seasonal weeks make up for it.
Typical tasks
- Feed and water livestock.
- Muster and yard animals.
- Maintain fencing and water points.
Skills you'll use
- Stock handling for sheep, cattle, goats or dairy herds
- Operating motorbikes, quad bikes, side-by-sides and small trucks
- Tractor driving, baling and basic plant maintenance
- Fencing, water troughs, bore and pump repair
- Drenching, drafting, marking, ear-tagging and basic vet treatments
- Reading livestock body condition and identifying common diseases
- Workplace health and safety including chemical handling
- Two-way radio and station logistics over long distances
How to become one
- 1Finish Year 10 and get a manual driver licence as soon as you can
- 2Look for a junior position as a jackaroo, jillaroo, dairy hand or station hand - many are advertised through farm-jobs boards or agricultural shows
- 3Complete a Certificate II or Certificate III in Agriculture (livestock specialisation) at TAFE or through a registered training provider, often blended with on-job training
- 4Pick up firearms, ChemCert and tractor competencies as the job requires
- 5Build experience across a couple of properties and enterprises (sheep, cattle, dairy) to broaden your options
- 6Step up to leading hand and overseer roles once you can run a section of country on your own
Where you can work
- Sheep and cattle stations across NSW, Queensland, WA and the Northern Territory
- Family-owned dairies in Gippsland, northern Victoria, Tasmania and the NSW coast
- Beef feedlots in the Riverina and Darling Downs
- Stud breeding operations for cattle, sheep and stock horses
- Live-export holding depots and abattoirs
- Goat, deer and alpaca enterprises
- Indigenous and corporate pastoral leases
Career progression
Typical stages and roles. Years of experience are a rough guide; pay at each stage depends on the employer, award or agreement.
- Trainee or junior hand0-2 yearsTypical roles: Jackaroo or jillaroo, Station hand, Dairy assistant
- Experienced livestock worker2-6 yearsTypical roles: Stockperson, Dairy herd manager, Feedlot pen rider
- Head stockperson or leading hand6-10 yearsTypical roles: Head stockperson, Leading hand, Stud hand
- Overseer or assistant manager10+ yearsTypical roles: Overseer, Assistant manager, Stud manager
Is this for you?
You might love this if
- You're comfortable working with large animals at close quarters
- You can put in long days during seasonal peaks without complaining
- You'd rather live in shared quarters on a station than rent in the city
- You're handy with tools, vehicles and basic machinery
- You can handle being hours from a hospital, supermarket or mobile signal
- You enjoy weather, dust, dogs and the smell of stock
This might not suit you if
- You can't be on the move physically all day
- You're squeamish about blood, manure or putting animals down
- You need to be close to family, friends or city services
- You want a regular 9 to 5 with weekends off year-round
- You're not comfortable with firearms and chemical use as part of the job
Ways in
Uni and TAFE routes for livestock worker. We only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.
University
Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.
No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.
TAFE / VET
Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.
Sources
ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Your Career (yourcareer.gov.au) directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.