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Casual Farmyard Cover

Stepney City Farm
Stepney, London

Posted: 15 Oct 2026

Deadline: 30 Oct 2026

Compensation: £14.80 per hour

Living Wage employer

Paid Flexible hours

Job description

About Stepney City Farm

Stepney City Farm is a 3.5 acre working farm in the heart of London. We are a community charity working to improve lives through farming. We produce food sustainably to sell locally and welcome visitors to the Farm free of charge 6 days a week, 50 weeks a year. With the help of our volunteers, we grow salad, fruit and vegetables using ecological farming practices and raise high welfare livestock for meat and eggs.

Our rural oasis provides green space for wellbeing and nature connection. Visitors love to meet our donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets. We keep bees on site and create places for wildlife to thrive. The Farm hosts a cafe, three artist studios, 78 allotments for local residents, a weekly farmers’ market, and provides low cost meeting space for local community groups.

The Farm is a unique resource for learning about food, farming and the natural world. Our Schools and Youth programmes engage children and young people in care farming and outdoor learning through tours, workshops, family events, volunteering sessions and work experience placements.

We are an equal opportunity employer. Tower Hamlets is one of the most diverse areas in the country and we believe it's important that our staff members reflect that diversity.

About the role

Stepney City Farm has two permanent livestock farmer roles encompassing seven days a week. From time to time, casual cover is required – sometimes at short notice – for sickness and annual leave.

We are looking for a qualified livestock worker with a flexible schedule. Ideally, you will also have experience working with the public and managing volunteers. This role is an excellent opportunity for a candidate at the beginning of their farming career to build experience.

The successful candidate will be offered shifts on an as-needed basis. Each day will consist of managing and ensuring completion of the full daily cycle of animal care tasks at the Farm, as well as overseeing health and safety and interacting with the public along with colleagues.

One of the key objects of the Farm is food education for urban communities, and as such several of the livestock species are bred for meat which is sold seasonally at the Farm. It is important that the successful candidate supports the mission of the Farm and can explain our objects clearly to visitors, whilst respecting all points of view.

Shifts could be offered on any day of the week and may be sporadic. A minimum number of shifts cannot be guaranteed, but equally you will not be obliged to accept every shift offered. The Casual Farmyard Cover Worker is accountable to the Farmyard Manager.

Key responsibilities:

While on duty, the postholder will lead on ensuring that the “five needs” are maintained for all animals at Stepney City Farm: 

• Need for a suitable diet – ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
• Need for a suitable environment – by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
• Need to be free from pain, injury, suffering or disease – by prevention and rapid diagnosis and treatment.
• Need to express natural behaviours – by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and proper enrichment.
• Need to be housed with, or apart, from others – ensuring that social species are housed with others of their own kind and solitary species are kept apart.

Daily duties:

• Arrive at 8am and carry out basic checks to ensure that all animals are healthy and accounted for.
• If working on a Saturday, arrive at 7.30am to let the Saturday market traders in.
• Open the site to the public at 10am.
• Carry out the animal feed in the morning and afternoon and/or delegate feeding tasks to volunteers as appropriate, ensuring that all feeds have been completed and have been ticked off on the feed board.
• Ensure that all animals have access to fresh clean water at all times.
• Carry out daily visual checks of animal health throughout the day; report any concerns to the Farmyard Manager.
• Administer animal medication as instructed by the Farmyard Manager when necessary.
• Carry out mucking out tasks as scheduled by the Farmyard Manager, and/or delegate such tasks to volunteers as appropriate.
• Liaise with colleagues to delegate livestock tasks appropriately for whichever groups are on site each day - including work experience students, corporate volunteers, and Greencare volunteers.
• Ensure that any volunteers on the day have the knowledge and training required to carry out required tasks such as feeding and mucking out; where appropriate, directly supervise to ensure that tasks are carried out safely and correctly. 
• Ensure that high animal welfare standards are understood and upheld by all.
• Carry out health & safety site checks throughout the day; maintain a high standard of physical health and safety compliance across the public areas on site; resolve hazards if they arise.
• Maintain cleanliness and tidiness on the site across the day, including litter picking as needed.
• Comply with all laws and regulations relating to running a working farm, with particular consideration to it being a public site.

• Manage the public: answer questions; be a welcoming, friendly and visible Farm presence; explain and enforce Farm policies regarding health, safety and animal welfare.

• Close the site at 4pm and secure all animals according to protocols set by the Farmyard Manager.
• Complete the Animal Diary with a record of all tasks carried out for the day and anything occurring of note for colleagues.

For the full job description and application form, visit stepneycityfarm.org/about-the-farm/vacancies

Application information

Visit stepneycityfarm.org/about-the-farm/vacancies for the full job description and application details.

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