Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
SOC 45-2093 · 2024-2034
Attend to live farm, ranch, open range or aquacultural animals that may include cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses and other equines, poultry, rabbits, finfish, shellfish, and bees. Attend to animals produced for animal products, such as meat, fur, skins, feathers, eggs, milk, and honey. Duties may include feeding, watering, herding, grazing, milking, castrating, branding, de-beaking, weighing, catching, and loading animals. May maintain records on animals; examine animals to detect diseases and injuries; assist in birth deliveries; and administer medications, vaccinations, or insecticides as appropriate. May clean and maintain animal housing areas. Includes workers who shear wool from sheep and collect eggs in hatcheries.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $39,687per year
- Projected openings
- 26,520
- Projected change
- +0.6%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Active Listening
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $50,554 | 180 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $48,831 | 500 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $48,831 | 340 |
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $44,532 | 70 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $44,439 | 580 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $44,305 | 580 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $43,760 | 500 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $43,718 | 290 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $40,476 | 1,070 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $40,167 | 1,120 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $39,138 | 530 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $38,293 | 4,180 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $37,933 | 2,690 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $37,933 | 1,720 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $37,254 | 540 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $37,213 | 190 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | Not reported | 120 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $35,722
- A quarter earn under
- $36,729
- Half earn under
- $39,687
- Three quarters earn under
- $47,523
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $56,808
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | $36,544 | 373,450 | -2.1% |
| Agricultural Equipment Operators | $39,872 | 26,200 | +7.4% |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | $37,404 | 11,860 | +5.3% |
| Slaughterers and Meat Packers | $40,319 | 7,550 | +3.2% |
| Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products | $37,314 | 11,300 | -5.7% |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | $45,689 | 502,850 | +8.6% |