Senior Beef Cattle Station Worker

A Senior Beef Cattle Station Worker manages daily cattle husbandry and station operations on a beef production property, supervising junior staff and livestock welfare. They perform mustering, drafting, health monitoring, and maintenance tasks across grazing land and yards, ensuring compliance with animal welfare standards and biosecurity protocols. This role requires practical livestock handling skills, mechanical aptitude, and knowledge of pasture and herd management within Australian extensive or semi-intensive beef enterprises.

Muster cattle using horses, motorbikes, or quad bikes across paddocks and rangeland, responding to seasonal conditions and herd requirements. Draft and sort cattle by age, sex, weight, and health status using yards and crush facilities. Monitor cattle for signs of disease, injury, or nutritional stress and administer first aid or call veterinary services when required. Inspect and maintain fencing, water troughs, gates, and yard infrastructure to prevent livestock escape and ensure safe handling areas. Operate mustering equipment including squeeze chutes, branding irons, dips, and drafting gates safely and effectively. Conduct branding, ear-marking, and identification procedures in accordance with livestock traceability requirements and animal welfare codes. Supervise and train junior station staff in cattle handling, safety protocols, and station procedures. Manage grazing rotations by moving cattle between paddocks and monitoring pasture condition and water availability.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). 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 pay ceiling is real. The work is also physically demanding year-round: early starts in heat, cold, and mud are standard. Mustering accidents happen, and you're responsible for animal welfare decisions that weigh on you.

Practically speaking, jobs follow cattle: they're sparse near cities and thick in regional grazing country. Remote work doesn't exist in this role.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Administer drugs to facilitate breedingcore
• Administer treatment to animalscore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Goal Setting and Planningcore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Record Managementcore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Rostering and Scheduling Supportcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Active Listening
• Advise customers on appropriate pet care
• Advise on animal purchase
• Advise on animal welfare
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Negotiation
• Process Improvement Identification
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Supplier Communication
• Written Communication

• 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.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026