Livestock Farm Workers
Perform routine tasks in livestock, meat, milk, egg, honey and wool production.
A long day on the property
You are a livestock farm worker who helps in the shearing shed, checks cattle in the paddocks and gives a hand at the horse stable. It is 6:30am after a night of storms. Shearers arrive at eight, the cattle paddocks need checking and the horse stable needs feeding before anything else.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
We are running behind, so I want a lot more sheep penned up now. Put a heap in the one pen and just move them over as we need. We will sort the mobs later, it is all the same wool anyway.
Keep the mobs separate, and offer to bring the next pen up early
Ray grins as the next pen arrives before he asks. The shed keeps pace, the wool stays sorted and the classer thanks you at the end of the day. Doing the job in the right order is usually quicker anyway.
Pen them all together, because the shearers will be waiting and time is money
Lambs and ewes get mixed and the wool from different mobs ends up in the same bales. The classer has to re-sort everything, and the wool is worth less. Keeping mobs separate protects the value of each clip.
Tell him keeping the mobs apart saves more time later, and pen them as planned
Ray grumbles, but the sorting afterwards goes smoothly. You were right, but the shed ran slow for the first hour because you didn't offer a way to speed up the penning.
I have just heard that the storm may have knocked down the fence by the main road. I am two hours away. The cattle in that paddock could get out. What do you think we should do?
Tell him it is probably fine and you will check it after the shearing
By midday the cattle have walked through the gap and onto the verge. A neighbour rings and you spend the afternoon rounding them up. Waiting turned a small job into a big one.
Tell him you will check the fence, and move the cattle to another paddock if it is down
You find the fence flattened by a fallen branch, move the cattle with the dogs and put up a temporary rope across the gap. Rodney thanks you. Quick, calm action kept the animals off the road.
Tell him you will drive past, take a photo and wait for him to decide
The photo shows the gap, but by the time Rodney responds the cattle have started to wander toward it. Looking is good, and acting on what you see is better.
I think my horse is off his feed. He didn't touch his breakfast and is just standing in the corner. I am at work and can't get there until tonight. Could you keep an eye on him?
Tell her you will check him, note what you see and ring her if there is any change
You keep watch and send her an update at lunch. But a horse that is off its feed may need advice from a vet sooner, and you didn't mention it. A note helps, and so does saying when to call someone.
Tell her horses go off their food sometimes and he will be fine
By evening he is clearly unwell, and the vet is called late. Miriam is upset that nobody warned her earlier. Reassurance without checking is not care.
Say you will check him and call the owner or vet if he gets worse
You check him through the day, note that he drank a little and moved around. Miriam gets a message at lunch, and she decides to ask the vet to call. Clear updates let owners decide well.
How it went
The fence is mended, the shearers finish with a full count and the horse is resting. Livestock work is outdoor, early and unpredictable, and the animals do not wait for a convenient time. Could you work in a job where the weather and the animals set the pace?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The heifer that stayed behind
A fictional case set in a mixed sheep and cattle property in the tablelands, with a shearing shed, a stockyard and a small horse stable.
The situation
Hana worked on a cattle property on the tablelands. On an ordinary morning check she noticed one young cow standing apart from the herd, head low, ignoring the feed that the others were crowding around. The owner, Rodney, was away at a sale and not due back until evening. It was easy to assume she would be fine by afternoon, and the other jobs on the list were urgent too.
What they did
Hana watched the heifer for a few minutes, then rang Rodney and described exactly what she saw. They agreed that she should call the vet. Hana moved the heifer to a small paddock near the house, put out water and kept notes of what she noticed through the morning. When the vet arrived she was able to give a clear account of when the change started.
How it turned out
The vet found an early infection and treated it that afternoon. The heifer recovered, and the rest of the herd stayed healthy. Rodney told Hana he would rather have a phone call about nothing than hear about it a day late, and asked her to keep notes on every morning walk.
What would you do?
- How would you decide whether an animal that looked off needed a vet?
- Why might a clear description help a vet more than a guess?
- What would you have done if you couldn't reach Rodney?