Role Overview
A Hobby Farm is seeking an experienced, proactive Barn Manager to oversee animal health, barn operations, and staff performance. If you’re someone who loves problem-solving, learning new things, and working outdoors — and you’ve always wished your job involved animals, fresh air, and real hands-on projects — this role will be a perfect fit. We are looking for someone intelligent, capable, and ready for a job that’s never boring.
This key leadership role holds full supervisory authority over animal care, veterinary coordination, pasture management, and barn staff. The ideal candidate is an expert animal caretaker, a strong communicator, and a decisive leader who excels at organizing daily routines, managing emergencies, and maintaining high operational standards.
Key Responsibilities
1. Animal Health & Veterinary Oversight
- Daily Inspections: Personally observe animals daily for lameness, injury, abnormal behavior, reduced appetite, respiratory issues, isolation, or general discomfort.
- Health Management: Confer with barn staff on animal health concerns, medications, treatments, diet changes, and quarantine needs.
- Veterinary Coordination: Serve as the primary point of contact for veterinary providers. Schedule appointments, manage diagnostic plans, direct treatments, and maintain up-to-date medical and parasite control records.
2. Animal Placement & Emergency Management
- Pasture Rotation: Determine daily animal pasture placement based on weather, rotation schedules, pasture conditions, drainage, medical needs, and family presence on the estate.
- Transportation & After-Hours Care: Act as the primary authorized staff member for animal transport. Provide extended, after-hours, or overnight care when necessary.
- Emergency Response: Lead animal emergency responses, including vet communication, scheduling, transportation, and monitoring. Immediately notify the Estate Manager regarding emergency situations.
3. Barn Staff Supervision & Operations
- Staff Leadership: Supervise farmhands, assign daily duties, define weekly staff rotations, and evaluate overall staff performance and trends.
- Quality Assurance: Inspect barn areas—including stalls, pens, enclosures, feed/wash areas, and water stations—to ensure cleanliness, safety, and animal-handling standards are strictly met. Correct deficiencies promptly.
4. Reporting & Administration
- Daily Updates: Review daily priorities based on safety and animal welfare, and provide a daily status update to the Estate Manager.
- Weekly Reporting: Prepare and submit a detailed weekly written summary to the Estate Manager covering animal health, treatments, upcoming vet appointments, staffing concerns, and urgent decision-dependent items.
- Monthly Reviews: Conduct monthly reviews of animal health patterns, staff performance trends, and long-term care plans.
Who You Are
- Mechanically Minded: Confident using tools and diagnosing system issues.
- Natural Problem-Solver: Curious, intelligent, and able to research and learn new systems quickly.
- Organized Leadership: Able to juggle multiple priorities while supervising staff and vendors effectively.
- Adaptable: Comfortable transitioning between indoor administrative tracking and outdoor physical projects.
- Dependable: Calm, trustworthy, and ready to respond to occasional off-hours urgent needs.
Qualifications
- Education: High school diploma or equivalent (Required).
- Property maintenance: 1 year (Required)
- Microsoft Office & Outlook: 2 years (Required)
- Animal handling: 1 year
- Farm machinery operation (UTVs, mowers, tractors): 1 year
- Landscaping: 1 year
How to Apply
To apply, please reply directly to this email with your updated resume and answers to the following screening questions.
Important Note: Please include the word “DETAIL” in your reply to confirm you have read the complete job description.Screening Questions:
- Did you read the full job description? Practical Scenario: If I were to ask you to install a new section of fence on the property, what would your step-by-step process look like from start to finish? What specific questions would you ask to gather the necessary information to build out a scope of work, timeline, and budget?
We look forward to reviewing your application!
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Application Question(s):
- Did you read the full job description?
- If I were to ask you to install a new section of fence, what would the process look like from start to finish? What questions would you ask to get the necessary information to build out a scope of work, timeline, and budget?
Education:
- High school or equivalent (Required)
Experience:
- Property maintenance: 1 year (Required)
- Microsoft Outlook: 2 years (Required)
- Microsoft Office: 2 years (Required)
- Landscaping: 1 year (Preferred)
- Construction management: 1 year (Preferred)
- Animal handling: 1 year (Required)
- Farm machinery: 1 year (Required)
Work Location: In person
