Careers with Smithfield

At Smithfield, Staff are duly considered the most valuable part of the enterprise.

Smithfield employees are openly encouraged to make suggestions and implement their ideas to improve the operations of the feedlot.

Understanding key performance drivers through their hands- on experience means Smithfield staff have regularly enabled employee suggestions to evolve into significant improvements in feedlot operations.

Smithfield places particular importance on staff development, both personally and professionally.
Employees are encouraged to gain skills in multiple fields through extensive on-the-job training. Up-skilling is also enabled by regular visits from Smithfield’s consulting feedlot nutritionists and veterinarians. Employees looking to further their skills are encouraged to do so through participation in courses, seminars and conferences.

A career at Smithfield is more than a job… it’s a way of life.

“I started with Smithfield feedlot November 2004, as the front desk receptionist and have stepped my way up over the years. All the while, feeling part of the family. The family have always provided me with the encouragement, support and training I have needed to step to the next level of management.”
Chrissy Wallis
Office Manager

Employment Opportunities

At Smithfield Cattle Company, there are four major areas of operation in which employees work together in teams. These include:

Administration

Handling enquiries and customer relations, record-keeping using feedlot software, accounts payable and receivable, recording and reporting of cattle performance, handling of trucks over the weighbridge and general administration duties.

Livestock

Utilising low stress stock handling techniques in pen riding, inducting cattle into the feedlot, treating cattle, drafting cattle, monitoring of animal health and welfare and cattle dispatch.

Feed Mill

Milling of grain, batching of commodities into batch boxes, feed delivery, general maintenance of feed mill plant and equipment, grain testing, unloading of trucks and analysis of feeding systems and feed efficiencies.

Maintenance

Maintenance and servicing of plant and equipment, building and maintenance of feedlot facilities such as pens and yards and the monitoring of pen hygiene.

Within each of these areas, a supervisor oversees operations and their employees and the Feedlot Manager oversees operations in all areas. All managers and supervisors work within the feedlot, often alongside employees on a day-to-day basis.

Smithfield offers a wide range of accommodation options for employees, all of which are in very close proximity to the feedlot. In conjunction with these accommodation solutions, Smithfield offer very attractive wage and salary packages, making them one of the most sought after employers in the region. Excellent workplace health and safety standards are also at the forefront of Smithfield’s employment conditions, where staff wellbeing is given precedence over all other aspects of feedlot operations. Further to this, Smithfield is an equal opportunity employer and employs both permanent and casual staff.

Trainee Managers

Over the past decade, Smithfield has proudly run a Trainee Manager Program, annually identifying young and enthusiastic people with a passion for Agriculture and Beef Production. Quite often these people have Tertiary qualifications aligning with Agricultural Science, Animal Science, Agribusiness or Agricultural Economics.

The Trainee Manager Program is designed to provide participants with exposure to each area of the feedlot on a rotational basis, over a period of up to three years. The Program also enables trainees to gain as much hands on practical experience as possible, with the view of establishing a skill-set that will enable them to manage each area of the feedlot when required.

Trainee Managers are also encouraged to participate in training programs and short courses to promote personal and professional development, including the development of management skills as a broader context.