Sheep breeder
Also called shearer, sheep rearer, goat breeder
Sheep breeders oversee the production and day-to-day care of sheep. They maintain the health and welfare of sheep.
What you'd do
Livestock and dairy producers · ILO- Monitoring market activity and conditions, determining kinds and amounts of stock to produce, planning and coordinating production accordingly
- Cultivating pastures and providing and monitoring fodder and water supplies to maintain appropriate nutritional levels and condition of livestock
- Monitoring and examining animals to detect illness, injury or disease, and to check physical condition such as rate of weight gain
- Grooming, marking, clipping, trimming, drenching and/or castrating animals and shearing coats to collect hair or wool
- Herding livestock to pastures for grazing or to scales, sheds, vehicles, or other enclosures
- Milking animals by hand or using milking machines
- Mixing feed, additives, and medicines in prescribed portions and distributing or hand feeding to animals for consumption
- Performing duties related to livestock reproduction, such as breeding, artificial insemination and helping with animal births
- Maintaining and cleaning farm buildings, machinery, equipment and structures
- Slaughtering and skinning animals and preparing them for market
- Storing and carrying out some processing of animal and dairy produce
- Promoting and marketing products, arranging the sale, purchase and transportation of livestock, produce and supplies, and maintaining and evaluating records of farm activities and transactions
- Training and supervising workers in animal care procedures, maintenance duties, and health and safety precautions, and hiring and discharging workers and contractors
- Mostly outdoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Some contact with people
- Good freedom to decide
- Usually under 40 hours a week
- Few deadlines
- Varied tasks, little repetition
Will there be jobs?
Yes, good prospects9 EU countries are short of livestock and dairy producers now, but fewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
More people will leave this work than new people are needed.
What does it pay?
Below averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €700 a month (Bulgaria) to €4,500 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers in the EU, women earn 16% more per hour than men. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training in crop and livestock production is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.17 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 13 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for livestock and dairy producers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).