Livestock Volunteer
Surrey Docks Farm is a working farm that rears a range of livestock to demonstrate where our food comes from and to promote animal welfare. Produce from the animals, including meat and eggs, is sold through the farm shop when available.
What's involved
Livestock volunteers assist with all aspects of animal care. Daily duties include helping with feeding, mucking out enclosures, sweeping the yard and paths, collecting eggs, exercising and putting the animals away at night. We also ask volunteers to help educate and engage with visiting groups and members of the public, through animal handling sessions or answering general enquiries about the animals.
Who should apply?
Livestock volunteers should have an interest in animals and their welfare and be prepared to get stuck in with routine, dirty and physical tasks in all weather. We also ask that volunteers are happy to work in a busy environment, engaging in a polite and friendly way with our visitors. Enthusiasm and interest in animal care is essential, skills and knowledge can be taught!
In line with our Safeguarding and Health & Safety Policy, volunteer roles are for adults only, so to be eligible you will need to 18 years or older. We do offer work experience placements for those aged 14+ and deliver a full Youth Programme for under 18’s.
What's required?
Livestock volunteers need to commit to a set morning (9am-1pm), afternoon (2pm-5pm) attending on a weekly basis, ideally for a minimum of three months. Set times are important, so that we can stick to routine times for the animals we’re caring for and know we’ll have enough help.
Please be aware we have a small staff team with only one Livestock staff member per day and as such volunteer supervision is very limited. We do provide in-role training, but expect volunteers to be capable of working independently to complete a set task.
Apply now
We have a few volunteer vacancies available – the shifts are as listed in the form below.
We’ll be in touch within a week to let you know when we’re holding a group induction which will give you a tour of the Farm and opportunity to ask any questions. We’ll check you’re suited to the role at this stage.
We will ask you to complete our volunteer and safeguarding paperwork – please make sure you have details of two people we can contact for a reference as this often holds things up.
The final step is to attend a taster session. This is an opportunity to try some hands-on mucking out and get a feel for what livestock volunteering is like first-hand!
We ask that you commit to any of the below shifts on a weekly basis for a minimum of three months. You must be able to work independently in a busy working farm environment.
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