How To Become A Herder: What It Is and Career Path

What is a herder and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a herder. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.5 an hour? That's $30,152 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 6,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHerderUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,152

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.04%

Asian 1.65%

Black or African American 2.99%

Hispanic or Latino 41.22%

Unknown 2.92%

White 50.18%

Gender

female 39.02%

male 60.98%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a herder

Explore herder education requirements

Most common herder degrees

Associate

37.5 %

Bachelor's

18.8 %

Master's

12.5 %

Start to develop specific herder skills

Skills	Percentages
Milking	51.51%
Calf	25.76%
Farm Equipment	22.72%

Complete relevant herder training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New herders learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a herder based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real herder resumes.

Research herder duties and responsibilities

Manage regular routines of dairy calf sector, developing skill in feeding, housing, sanitation, parasite and disease control.
Hand milking if need to help express milk.
Gather cows from lots and herd to milking parlor.
Perform activities base on synchronization programs and artificial insemination.

Prepare your herder resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your herder resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a herder resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable herder resume templates

Build a professional herder resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your herder resume.