A farm or acreage sit adds four responsibilities a suburban house sit does not have: livestock that must be checked and watered every day, a water system whose failure you are the one who has to notice, gates that decide whether stock stay on the property, and machinery you may be asked to operate. The dogs, the house and the mail work exactly as they do anywhere. Those four are the whole difference, and they are what both sides should be assessing before anyone commits.
On a non-monetary platform like Sitterly, no money changes hands for the sit and there is no per-booking commission. The sitter stays in the home free and looks after the animals and the property, and on acreage that exchange is bigger on both sides. This article covers the extra skill set only. Distance to a vet and mobile coverage are in regional and remote house sitting, the caravan and tank water side in house sitting for grey nomads, and the summer fire plan in bushfire season and house sitting.
Looking after livestock is a duty of care, and it follows whoever is holding the animals
The Queensland Government states the principle on its duty of care for animals page: "If you are in charge of an animal, you have a duty of care to that animal", and adds that this holds no matter why you are in charge of it or how long it will be in your care. It describes appropriate care as food and water, living conditions, understanding normal behaviour, treating disease and injury, and handling the animal properly. That is why "just keep an eye on them" is not an adequate handover for a paddock of sheep.
The law is not national. The RSPCA Knowledgebase records that there are no national animal welfare laws and that all eight states and territories regulate under their own Act, from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 in New South Wales to the Animal Welfare Act 2002 in Western Australia. Which one applies follows the property, not the sitter. That is general information, not legal advice, and the agriculture or primary industries department in that state is the place to ask.
Water is the system most likely to hurt animals when it fails
Stock water is not a tap. It is a tank or a bore or a dam, a pump, a line, a float valve and a trough, and any one of those can stop while the animals keep drinking.
| Animal | Average day | Summer day |
|---|---|---|
| Adult dry cattle | Up to 80 litres | 112 litres |
| Weaner cattle, 250 to 300 kg | Up to 55 litres | 70 litres |
| Adult dry sheep | 6 litres | 10 litres |
| Ewes with lambs | 10 litres | 14 litres |
| Weaner sheep | 4 litres | 6 litres |
| Horse, about 500 kg | 30 to 50 litres | More again in heat |
Cattle and sheep figures come from Agriculture Victoria's beef and sheep water calculators, the horse figure from the RSPCA Knowledgebase, which adds that horses must have clean water available 24 hours a day.
Forty head of adult dry cattle on a hot January day in the Riverina is about 4,500 litres, which a stuck float valve removes from the paddock in an afternoon. Four things belong in the notes: where the water comes from, where the pump switch and its breaker are, which troughs serve which paddock, and who carts water in that district.
A gate is a decision, and on a bad day there is a road behind it
Main Roads Western Australia puts the consequence in one sentence on its straying livestock on roads page: "Livestock collisions can be fatal for drivers, passengers and animals." It notes the risk is highest from dusk until dawn, which is exactly when a sitter finishing a late round leaves something open.
Close every gate behind you unless the owner has said in writing that a particular one stays open, and count, because a sitter who knows there should be eleven and can find only nine has a two hour old problem instead of a two day old one. The notes should name who to ring when stock are out: the homeowner, the neighbour who can physically help, then the council or state land services body. Animals loose on a road are a phone call, not a message left for someone in another time zone, a gap covered in the house sitting timezone problem.
Machinery is what injures the sitter, not the stock
The ACCC's product safety service states on its quad bike safety page that quad bikes are one of the leading causes of injury and death on Australian farms, that 234 Australians have died in quad bike incidents since 2011, and that men over 70 are statistically the most at risk age group. That last point matters here, because many of the people willing to take a long rural sit are retired and travelling. The ACCC advises always wearing a helmet, fitting rollover protection, and never letting anyone under 16 ride an adult quad.
Do not learn a machine on someone else's property
If the owner has not started the machine with you and watched you use it before they left, treat it as off limits and say so at handover. That covers quads, side by sides, tractors, chainsaws and anything with a power take off. If a vehicle is provided, settle in writing who insures it and what it may be used for.
The capability check is a list of specific tasks, not a general feeling about the country
Farm listings are written by people who do these jobs without thinking, so the wording understates the work almost every time. Read the listing against this before you reply.
| What the listing says | What it actually asks of you | Say so plainly if |
|---|---|---|
| Just check the stock daily | Covering every paddock in use, counting, and spotting a lame, cast or fly struck animal early | You would not know what cast or fly struck looks like |
| Top up the water if it gets low | Reading a tank level, resetting a pump, clearing a trough, knowing who to ring | You have only ever lived on town water |
| The horses are easy | Catching, haltering, leading, rugging and picking out feet, twice a day, in mud | You have not handled a horse on the ground in years |
| Move them to the next paddock | Putting a mob through a gate without splitting or panicking them | You have never moved stock, and ask for a demonstration |
| Just some chooks and a few ducks | Locking up at dusk and opening at dawn daily, and keeping the run predator proof | You sleep heavily or plan full day trips away |
| Take the bike if you need it | Operating a quad or side by side on slopes, gravel and wet ground | You have not ridden one, or there is no helmet or rollover protection |
| Ring the vet if anything happens | Deciding an animal needs a vet and arranging a large animal call out | You have no written authority to treat and no dollar figure |
Experience with pets does not transfer to livestock, and there is no shame in saying so. Owners will often teach a capable person who was upfront, and are much less forgiving of one who oversold. Saying that without underselling yourself is in the house sitting profile that gets replies.
For owners, the disclosure list is what protects the animals
A sitter who arrives and discovers the real workload will either do it badly or leave, and both are worse for you than a smaller pool of applicants who knew.
- Every species and how many of each, including the ones too obvious to mention.
- The daily round as times and tasks, with an honest total in hours.
- The water system, the paddocks in use, and which fence lines are weak.
- Both vets, small animal and large animal, with after hours numbers, plus written authority to treat and a spending limit, as set out in who authorises and pays an emergency vet bill.
- What to do if an animal dies, which on a long sit with stock is a real possibility.
- The neighbour who can help, by name, who knows a sitter will be there.
- Firearms and chemicals to be secured, and a short list of what the sitter is not to do.
The rest of the handover is in what to leave for a house sitter, and the terms worth agreeing first are in the house sitting agreement.
One number belongs on the fridge, and almost nobody puts it there
If several animals are sick at once, or one shows signs the owner never described, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry lists the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888 for sick livestock and poultry, and says the number directs you straight to your state or territory biosecurity authority. A sitter is not expected to diagnose anything. Ringing it is a report, not a diagnosis, and being wrong costs nothing.
Common questions about farm and acreage sitting in Australia
- Do I need livestock experience to take a farm sit?
- Not for every sit. Say exactly what you have and have not done and let the owner decide, because many will teach someone who was honest at the start. What fails is implying general rural competence and discovering on day two that you cannot move a mob.
- What happens if an animal dies during the sit?
- Settle it before you arrive: who you tell first, whether the owner wants their vet involved, and what happens to the body, which on a property is a practical question about a tractor, a paddock and local rules. It is a horrible thing to work out alone at seven in the morning.
- Is a farm sit the same as farm work for a visa?
- No, and visa and border questions for sitters are outside what this article covers. The Department of Home Affairs is the authority on what a temporary visa permits, not a sitting platform.
Your next step
Farm sits tend to be long, because a property is not worth handing over for a weekend, and six weeks in the Bega Valley, the Adelaide Hills or the Huon Valley is a different proposition from six nights in a suburb. Read the acreage listings against the four things at the top of this page, message only the ones where you can answer all four honestly, and say in your first line what you have actually done with livestock.
Sitterly supports the connection, and homeowners and sitters remain responsible for their own arrangements. Verification is optional and user initiated, and Sitterly does not vet every user, provide insurance, supervise sits or find a replacement if an arrangement falls through. On a property with stock in paddocks, the meet and greet and the written agreement matter more, not less.
Browse open sits across Australia, or create a sitter profile that says what you can do on a farm and what you cannot.
This article is general information about house sitting on rural property in Australia. It is not legal, veterinary or insurance advice. For obligations on a specific property, contact the agriculture or primary industries department in that state or territory.
