Job: Assistant Herd Manager
Description:
The Assistant Herd Manager will work with the goat team to ensure the health and wellness of our herd of LaMancha dairy goats. They will ensure that all tasks get done in a timely manner while helping to communicate to staff what all the animals needs are. Responsible for helping the Herd Manager and co-workers execute the day-to-day management of Stepladder Creamery’s dairy. This includes but is not limited to: milking, herd management, kidding, supply/feed inventory management, personnel management, and scheduling and covering shifts of staff as necessary. This position will assist in interviewing, hiring, training, managing, and firing dairy staff in cooperation with the Herd Manager. We are looking for applicants with animal handling experience, though we are willing to train the right individual for the more specialized details of this position.
Additionally, there is potentially for the right candidate to move up within the company and gain more hours as well as tips and commissions if they are interested in taking on a more multi-faceted role that includes potential tour guiding and other customer service related opportunities. View our other posting for more information.
Hours + Season
Estimated to start Mid-February 2025. Subject to change as needed.
Estimated hours: PT to FT 24-40 hours per week depending seasonal herd needs and applicant availability
Compensation:
$20+/hour
Negotiable depending on level of experience
Requirements: The right candidate must love animals, have a positive attitude, be hard working and extremely reliable. They must be able to lift 75 pounds and be able to work both independently and as a team. They must be able to work early mornings and evenings and have reliable transportation. Due to the nature of animal husbandry we have a firm schedule and do not have the flexibility to offer time off during the kidding season once committed; any time off during this extremely busy period (February-June) must be negotiated during the interview. During the milking season we have a little more flexibility for shift coverage but there is a limit and we ask that whenever possible time off that spans for more than a couple days is taken during the off-season (December-early February).
Duties include:
Help manage all aspects of the dairy at Stepladder Creamery in cooperation with Herd Manager during the 2025 kidding, milking and breeding seasons.
Feeding animals (goats, livestock guardian dogs)
Performing milking shifts as scheduled adhering to highest standards of hygiene and sanitation
Safe and responsible use of chemicals for the sanitation and cleaning of the milking line and related equipment
Monitoring herd health and communicate updates to manager
Weekly deep clean of the milking parlor
Ability to access email regularly to ensure you have the latest information before each shift worked
Occasional bottle-feeding of goat kids
Maintaining a high level of awareness to ensure herd health, personal safety, and product quality
Helping the dairy management team with miscellaneous tasks as needed
Great communication skills
Cleaning/mucking pens, working in dusty environments
Loading bales of hay in the back of an RTV
Occasionally feed/care for other animals on the farm (pigs, cows, cats, fish)
About our farm: Stepladder Ranch & Creamery is a small farmstead goat dairy and creamery located in the hills of Cambria, California. We specialize in small-scale, handmade cheeses with milk from our pasture-raised herd of Lamancha goats. We also make artisan cow's milk and mixed milk cheeses using milk from a local herd of Holstein and Jersey cows. All the goat milk used to make our cheeses comes exclusively from our herd on the property.
If you would like to apply, please email us today at info@stepladdercreamery with your resume and cover letter!
