Cattle Herdsman

Job Description

Position: 

Beef Cattle Herdsman : responsible for the daily management and care of the White Oak Angus cowherd, assist in operational activities related to farm and beef operations, and assist in infrastructure and facilities maintenance and upkeep.

Detailed description: 

Cattle herd management 

Manage Angus herd: 100 cows and heifers, 3 bulls, 40-50 calves. Manage herd for genetic excellence, health, growth, and profit. 

Feeding and Watering: Routine feeding of grain, forages, and supplements. Maintaining cattle waterers and ensuring cattle have access to clean water. 

Breeding: Manage a breeding program including conducting artificial insemination, pregnancy checks, ovulation management, and seamen testing of bulls. Maintain all related records. 

Calving: Observation and assistance with calving. Includes moving pregnant cows and heifers into and out of calving facility, weaning calves, medical and health checks, and sorting of animals. Two calving seasons per year – spring beginning in February and fall beginning in September. Maintain all related records. 

Herd Health: Regularly checking cattle for signs of illness. Identify sick animals and administer proper care and/or call the veterinarian.

Vaccination and Deworming: Administering routine vaccinations and deworming treatments.

Tagging and Identification: Ensuring cattle are properly tagged and identified for tracking and record-keeping.

Sales: Two calf sales per year at auction plus miscellaneous unscheduled sales of individual cows, calves, and bulls. Coordinate with sale barn, transport cattle to and from sale barn, deliver payment to ownership. Record sales as part of record keeping and herd management.

Keep thorough records and generate reports for ownership and management review. Records include: breeding and genetic history, medical – veterinary history, grazing plan. 

Communicate with the farm/ranch owner on a regular basis

Infrastructure and Facilities:

Fence Building and Maintenance: Including Building and repairing new and existing fence and electric fence. 

Water Maintenance: Maintaining wells (electric/gas), and pipelines. 

Facility Upkeep: Ensure that barns, pens, and other facilities are clean and well-maintained. Identify and communicate with ownership projects that need outside contractors to complete.

Maintain and operate heavy equipment. Operate equipment needed to manage cowherd and maintain pastures and facilities, including minor maintenance of equipment. Identify and communicate with ownership maintenance that requires specialized mechanics to inspect, maintain, and repair.  

Pasture Management: Grazing plan development  and implementation. Including Harvesting and putting up hay, mowing pasture, fertilizing and seeding pasture, and moving cowherd per the rotational grazing plan.

Work independently and as a team with 2 others, plus additional personnel as needed. Supervise other team members as necessary.  The White Oak Farms team is a collaborative group. Team members help and support each other. 

Skills and qualifications:

An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science or a livestock related field, or equivalent field experience. 

Experience working with livestock. 

A strong understanding of animal husbandry practices, including feeding, breeding, and health management.

Physical Stamina: The job requires a high level of physical stamina and the ability to perform physically demanding tasks.

Basic equipment skills including: tractors, skid loaders, trucks with trailers, ATVs, balers, rakes, tedders, manure spreaders.

Problem-Solving Skills: The ability to identify and resolve problems related to animal health and welfare.

Basic PC computer skills including: database, spreadsheet, word processing, and Herd Management software. 

Available to work off hours, weekends and holidays in rotation with other employees as is typically required with cattle operations.

Communication Skills: The ability to communicate effectively with other farm workers, veterinarians, and clients.

Compensation 

Base Salary 

Rental House on property with all utilities paid. Ownership covers all major property upkeep. 

Vacation and holidays

Vacation and holidays: Vacation-10 days, Holidays-6 days, sick days-4 days.

Farm truck use- non personal 

Professional organizations and Associations memberships – 2

White Oak Farms – White Oak Angus 

The White Oak Farms Team includes  Carter Brooksher – Chairwoman, Geoffrey Brooksher -Operations Officer, Gregory Brooksher – Finance Officer, and Leslie Brooksher – advisor, Farm Manager Malcolm Beckemeier, Herdsman, plus two grounds and machinery maintenance personnel.

The Farm Manager oversees the entire farm- grounds and cattle. The Herdsman is in charge of the cowherd and works collaboratively with the Farm Manger. Both positions report to the White Oak Farms Operations lead and to the White Oak Farms Chairwoman.

The Herdsman shall be able to work independently and as part of the White Oak Farms team, in both a leadership role and team role.

The White Oak Farms team is a collaborative group.  We are a family! We help and support each other.