Senior Station Hand

March Talent Partners Pty Ltd

Woolnorth, Devonport and North West TAS

Farm Labour (Farming, Animals and Conservation)

Full time

75k - 85k + Super + 3 bed house + fuel

Fencing

Yards Duties

Animal Health

Your Next Employer

Our client is a family-owned, grass-fed Angus business, built over close to 30 years into one of the largest privately owned Angus producers in the country, with operations across Victoria and Tasmania.

You'll be based at Woolnorth, the beef block in the Circular Head district near Smithton: 4,200ha in total, around 2,900ha of it grazable. Intensive grazing country divided into small paddocks and worked on a quad, much of it humped and hollowed with drains, with troughs fed from bores. It's wet country, and the grass takes off as it dries out of winter.

The Angus herd is a little over 2,000 head, from R1 heifers through to mature cows plus bulls, with around 700 head of dairy stock from the neighbouring dairies also grazed on the block. The owners are building toward 3,500 self-replacing breeders and are funding the work to get there: a fertiliser, cultivation and over-sowing program, fencing and water, a new set of cattle yards, and staff accommodation as the herd grows.

The Role

You'll work closely with a hands-on Station Manager, with contractors and the neighbouring dairy teams pitching in when the work calls for it. The role exists so the day-to-day can be divided rather than shared: you take on the stock moves, yard work and repairs while the manager sets the program.

Heifers are calving now, the R1s go to the bull this spring, and calf marking runs through November and December. You'll weigh stock monthly through to joining, run the animal health work in the yards, and flag early when a rotation needs slowing or a mob splitting.

You'll share the fencing, water and drainage work with the manager, with contractors brought in where required, and work alongside the dairy teams next door when needed.

The manager works to the same standard he'll expect from you: a broken trough gets fixed properly. The work covers everything on the block, and nobody's precious about who does which job. As the herd builds, the beef team grows to around five and the first junior hands report to you. That step is there for the person who earns it.

Key Responsibilities

Run the stock work. Shift and bring in mobs on the quad, put stock through monthly weighing and yard work, and carry calf marking, weaning and joining through on time each season.

Handle cattle quietly. Low-stress handling in the yards and paddock as the norm, treating sick and injured stock and removing dead stock.

Work the grazing rotation. Read and record pasture covers and stock numbers, and contribute to stocking-rate decisions.

Keep water and fences working. Troughs, ballcocks, pumps and water lines, fences and electric-fence power, so stock stay where they are put.

Maintain the block. Buildings, sheds, yards - keep the place presentable.

Help deliver the development program. Pasture renovation, fencing upgrades, drainage and the new cattle yards, keeping contractors moving on site.

Keep records current. Stock movements in Agriwebb, chemical spraying and fuel logs, working to LPA, EU and program standards.

Guide junior hands. Help mentor and develop junior staff as they join.

What You Bring

The role suits someone who takes pride in doing things properly the first time and puts the stock first.

Essential:

Around 5+ years of hands-on beef cattle work, moving and handling large mobs.

Quiet, confident, low-stress stock handling.

Competent on a quad day in, day out across wet, drained country.

Practical fencing, water and trough repair skills.

Drawn to an operation in a growth phase, where the scale of the development work is the reason to come.

Willing to live in the company house in Smithton and take a share of the weekend roster.

A current Driver's Licence.

Australian work rights.

Advantageous:

Agriwebb experience.

Mechanically minded, with excavator experience for drainage work.

A sound understanding of pasture grazing and fertilizer or nutrition management.

Experience leading or directing junior hands.

Cert IV in Agriculture or a tertiary qualification in agriculture or farm management.

Working dogs

Chemical handling accreditation, forklift or heavy vehicle licence.

What You'll Gain

Package: 75k - 85k base + Super.

Housing: Three-bedroom Company house in Smithton, about 20 minutes from the block.

Fuel: Two tanks a month, covering the run to and from the property.

Development: Learn how a breeding operation is scaled from the inside.

Hours: Monday to Friday, roughly 7:00 am to 4:30 pm. Weekend roster: about one weekend a month, two to four hours on Saturday and Sunday for stock shifts and essentials. The hours follow the stock and the season, and weekend time is balanced with earlier finishes when the work allows.

How to Step Forward

NOTE: Never make payment to any employer, person, company, contractor or agency to get hired for a Job.

For more information or a confidential chat, contact Nick Marchant, Director, on 0466333066, or Lemuel Cruz, Talent Specialist, on 0468093444.