A farmhand is responsible for assisting farmers in growing plants and feeding livestock on the farm. Your work is basically to ensure a smooth running of the farm by performing various tasks throughout a working day. You are expected to maintain the machinery by fixing it when necessary, cleaning it regularly, and maintaining the condition of building the farm.

Since farming is an unpredictable industry, your work differs per season. Nonetheless, you will be required to do heavy lifts and manual labor throughout the day to help farmers to reduce unforeseen and unpredictable circumstances. Helping out farmers involves a lot of participation in farm activities, which include providing water for the animals, cleaning out pens and closures, and providing fresh straw and hay. You are also responsible for moving animals from one area of the farm to another, planting and spraying crops, and watching them as they grow.

As a farmhand, you have to be very vigilant in every aspect to alert the farmer whenever you observe a problem concerning the animals or the crops. Sensitivity, flexibility, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and a genuine love for farm work are crucial for this role. You must also be physically fit for this role. Plus, you need a bachelor's degree in agriculture or other related fields. The average salary of a farmhand annually is $25,000.

What Does a Farm Hand Do

Agricultural workers maintain the quality of farms, crops, and livestock by operating machinery and doing physical labor under the supervision of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers.

Learn more about what a Farm Hand does

How To Become a Farm Hand

Agricultural workers typically receive on-the-job training. A high school diploma is not needed for most jobs as an agricultural worker; however, a high school diploma typically is needed for animal breeders.

Learn More About How To Become a Farm Hand

Average Salary for a Farm Hand

Farm Hands in America make an average salary of $26,594 per year or $13 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $33,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $21,000 per year.
Average Farm Hand Salary
$26,594 Yearly
$12.79 hourly

What Am I Worth?

salary-calculator

Roles and Types of Farm Hand

There are several types of farm hand, including:

Ranch Hand

Role:

A ranch hand works on a farm or ranch, tending to animals and doing menial tasks around the ranch. They either live on the ranch or near it, and work long tedious hours. They attend to live farm or ranch animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, bees, or poultry that produce animal products such as milk, fur, skins, meat, feathers, eggs, and honey. They are responsible for feeding, watering, herding, grazing, castrating, branding, weighing, catching, and loading animals into transport vehicles.

The ranch hand cleans and maintains animal housing areas, shears wool from sheep, collects eggs from hatcheries, and do routine menial tasks such as repairing fences, operating heavy machinery like tractors, and so on. They require physical stamina to do tasks around the ranch. They have to be up very early in the mornings and retire late at night.

Only a high school diploma or GED is necessary. A ranch hand earns an average of $25,368 per year, which translates to $12.20 per hour. Career growth is described as having little or no change at 1% and will produce 10,900 new jobs across the US by 2028.

  • Average Salary: $27,569
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Farm Worker

Role:

If you want to be a Farm Worker, you will be employed for labor in agriculture, including harvesting. You will maintain crops such as vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts or look after livestock, and you will work under the supervision of an agricultural manager and receive on-the-job training. You can work on farms of all sizes, from small family farms to large industrial agriculture operations.

You will be responsible for maintaining ditches pipes and pumps, direct and monitoring work crews' activities, operating and service farm machinery, spray fertilizer or pesticide solutions to control environmental pests, feed livestock, and cleaning and disinfecting the yards. You need to be stable, persistent, genuine, practical, and thrifty. You need to like tasks that are physical, athletic, or mechanical. You must also be communicative and able to follow orders. You will make a salary of $26,000 per year.

  • Average Salary: $26,598
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Groom

Role:

Grooms are generally responsible for tasks such as mucking out stalls, feed preparation and distribution, cleaning and refilling water containers, grooming and bathing, cleaning tack, bandaging legs, tacking up, and administering basic first aid for cuts and scrapes. Horse groom are supervised by a barn manager, trainer, or foreman and continuously need to report back to those in management when they notice any injuries, behavior changes, or potential hazards.

While grooms won't need any formal educational qualification, they must possess solid horsemanship skills. They may acquire these skills through formal education or on the job training. Prior horse ownership or volunteer experience at a local riding stable generally provides a good knowledge base.

Most grooming positions do not offer a very high salary. However, grooms working for major racing programs may be compensated with bonuses when the horses under their care perform well in a competition.

Nonetheless, grooms in the US generally earn between $10 and $15 per hour.

  • Average Salary: $30,872
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Farm Hand Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active farm hand jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where farm hands earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Farm Hand Jobs By State

Farm Hand Education

Farm Hand Majors

13.7 %

Farm Hand Degrees

Bachelors

38.7 %

High School Diploma

31.0 %

Associate

19.0 %

Top Skills For a Farm Hand

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.1% of farm hands listed drive tractor on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and listening skills are important as well.

  • Drive Tractor, 17.1%
  • Beef Cattle, 13.5%
  • Milking, 10.6%
  • Mowing, 7.2%
  • Farm Work, 5.1%
  • Other Skills, 46.5%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Farm Hand Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Farm Hand templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Farm Hand resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume
Farm Hand Resume

Farm Hand diversity

Farm Hand Gender Distribution

Male
Male
78%
Female
Female
22%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among farm hands, 22.3% of them are women, while 77.7% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among farm hands is White, which makes up 70.8% of all farm hands.

  • The most common foreign language among farm hands is Spanish at 57.3%.

Online Courses For Farm Hand That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure  

1. Discover Best Practice Farming for a Sustainable 2050

coursera

The Discover Best Practice Farming for a Sustainable 2050 Course is based on a clear vision: imagine best practice farming for 2050, start to implement these strategies now, all the while making sure it will still be profitable. At UWA we're doing just that with the Future Farm 2050 Project, set on a mixed-enterprise farm in Western Australia and we want you to learn how it can be done in your part of the world. Although this course is based on agriculture, it's not only about farming. It is a...

2. Dairy Production and Management

coursera

With the world's first MOOOOO-C, you will gain a broad and comprehensive understanding of all aspects of dairy management such as genetics, nutrition, reproduction, animal health, farm economics, and sustainability of dairy production systems. There's something here for everyone whether you are just looking for the basics or have years of experience in the dairy industry. This is an eight-week course. Each week consists of four to nine video lectures, additional reading materials, and a...

3. Truck Dispatcher - Working with owner operators

udemy
4.7
(489)

Work and earn...

Show More Online Courses For Farm Hand
Job type you want
Full Time
Part Time
Internship
Temporary

Best States For a Farm Hand

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a farm hand. The best states for people in this position are North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, and Idaho. Farm hands make the most in North Dakota with an average salary of $40,049. Whereas in Montana and Minnesota, they would average $38,144 and $34,839, respectively. While farm hands would only make an average of $34,158 in Idaho, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. North Dakota

Total Farm Hand Jobs: 7
Highest 10% Earn:
$50,000
Location Quotient:
2.95

2. Montana

Total Farm Hand Jobs: 76
Highest 10% Earn:
$48,000
Location Quotient:
25.84

3. Idaho

Total Farm Hand Jobs: 9
Highest 10% Earn:
$43,000
Location Quotient:
2.15
Full List Of Best States For Farm Hands

How Do Farm Hands Rate Their Jobs?

5/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Farm Hand Reviews

5.0
Apr 2021
Pros

To take care of fresh good ,to organize the goods ,I to work by touch .on the market they clean good

Cons

To destroy goods when time is for harvesting ,I don't want to damage the goods


Working as a Farm Hand? Share your experience anonymously.
Overall Rating*
Career Growth
Work/Life balance
Pay/Salary

Top Farm Hand Employers

Most Common Employers For Farm Hand

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Morgan$27,575$13.2614
2Harris Farms$26,559$12.7718
3Wilson Farm$26,473$12.7322
4Thompson Ehle$26,348$12.6725
5Seaboard$26,309$12.6515
6Gary Null$26,165$12.5815
7Phillips Farms$26,144$12.5713
8Fisher Farms$26,101$12.5516
9Rocking$26,096$12.5517
10*n/a*$26,095$12.5578

Farm Hand Videos

Becoming a Farm Hand FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become A Farm Hand?

It takes one year or less to become a farm hand. That is the time it takes to learn specific farm hand skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.

Search For Farm Hand Jobs