Dairy Cattle Farm Worker
A dairy cattle farm worker performs routine manual and operational tasks on a dairy farm to support milk production and animal welfare. They conduct daily milking operations, feed and water livestock, maintain farm facilities and equipment, and assist with herd health and breeding programmes under the direction of senior farm staff.
What this job is
A dairy cattle farm worker performs routine manual and operational tasks on a dairy farm to support milk production and animal welfare. They conduct daily milking operations, feed and water livestock, maintain farm facilities and equipment, and assist with herd health and breeding programmes under the direction of senior farm staff.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 48.8% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Operate milking machinery and automated systems to extract milk from dairy cattle, ensuring proper attachment, sanitation, and equipment function. Prepare and distribute feed and water to dairy cattle according to nutritional schedules and herd requirements. Clean and sanitise milking sheds, dairy equipment, milk storage tanks, and holding yards to meet food safety and hygiene standards. Monitor cattle health and behaviour, identifying signs of illness or injury and reporting to farm supervisors or veterinarians. Assist with animal husbandry tasks including calving support, calf rearing, and introductions of new animals to the herd. Collect milk samples and record production data, somatic cell counts, and milk quality metrics for herd management and regulatory compliance. Maintain farm facilities including fencing, gates, water troughs, and shelter areas to ensure animal safety and comfort. Operate farm vehicles and equipment such as tractors, feed bins, and waste management systems.
Who does this now
About 3,600 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
The work is physically demanding with early starts (often 4 to 5am for milking), repetitive strain injuries from machinery operation, and you're on your feet in wet conditions most days. Pay is modest and won't grow much without moving into management. You're also locked into shift patterns that make weekends and holidays difficult.
Where the jobs are
Jobs are rural and spread across farming regions rather than concentrated in cities. Remote work isn't an option. Most positions are on individual farms rather than in larger employers, so you'll need to search local farm networks and rural job boards.
Skills
- Active Listeningcore
- Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
- Animal welfare legislationcore
- Apply animal hygiene practicescore
- Assess animal behaviourcore
- Assist animal birthcore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
- Computerised feeding systemscore
- Control animal movementcore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Inventory Trackingcore
- Livestock reproductioncore
- Livestock speciescore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Provide nutrition to animalscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Advise customers on appropriate pet care
- Advise on animal purchase
- Advise on animal welfare
- Animal nutrition
- Animal welfare
- Assess animal nutrition
- Biology
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Data Entry and Accuracy
- Multitasking
- Quality Assurance and Checking
- Record Management
- Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Dairy Cattle Farm Worker move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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