Pastoral Award pay guide 2026/2027

Casual rates for ordinary hours for farm and livestock hands, generated from the current Fair Work pay guide:

If you only skim one section, make it this one:

• The Pastoral Award 2020 [MA000035] covers farming and pastoral work — farm and livestock hands (levels 1–8), piggery and poultry attendants, shearers and pieceworkers.
• Minimums are reviewed each July. The FY2026/27 pay guide took effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, lifting all rates by 4.75%.
• Example 2026/27 adult minimum pay (farm & livestock hand):
  • Level 1: full-time/part-time $25.74/hr, casual $32.18/hr.
  • Level 8: full-time/part-time $31.64/hr, casual $39.55/hr.
• Weekend work is overtime for farm hands (Saturday 1.5×, Sunday 2×); public holidays 2×.
• Keep/found deductions apply where board and lodging are provided.
• Get stream, level, employment type and overtime right for every employee.

The Pastoral Award — full name the Pastoral Award 2020 [MA000035] — is the modern award that sets the legal minimum pay and conditions for its industry. It covers broadacre farming, grazing, livestock and station work, plus the piggery, poultry and shearing streams. Farm and livestock hands are graded FLH1 to FLH8 by skill and machinery competency, and the award carries accommodation and keep provisions that most other awards do not.

Pay is built from four things, in this order: the classification level the employee’s duties fall into (8 in this award), their employment type (full-time, part-time or casual — casuals receive a 25% loading instead of paid leave), when the shift was worked (weekend, public holiday, evening or overtime penalties), and any allowances that apply. Get one of the four wrong and the pay is wrong.

The Pastoral Award covers farming and pastoral operations:

• Farm and livestock hands (Levels 1–8): general farm, station and livestock work.
• Piggery and poultry attendants: with their own weekend penalty structure.
• Shearers, crutchers, shed hands and wool classers: often paid by piecework.
• Broadacre/grain and other pastoral operations.

Important — who’s covered by other awards: horticulture (fruit/vegetable/nursery growing) → Horticulture Award; meat processing → Meat Industry Award. Confirm coverage with Fair Work’s PACT tool before applying rates.

A snapshot of the current FY2026/27 farm-and-livestock-hand rates, generated from the same data that powers the calculator above.

Ordinary rates for farm and livestock hand levels 1–8:

Casuals receive the same base rate plus a 25% loading. Ordinary casual rates:

Below is the 2026/27 ordinary hourly rate for each classification in the Pastoral Award (full-time and part-time), with the casual rate (base + 25% loading) in brackets. Weekend, public-holiday and overtime penalties apply on top. Classification follows duties, qualifications and responsibility — not the job title.

Farm & livestock hand – level 1 — $25.74/hour full-time/part-time (casual $32.18/hour, $978.10/week full-time). Entry-level farm/station hand.

Farm & livestock hand – level 2 — $26.44/hour full-time/part-time (casual $33.05/hour, $1004.90/week full-time). Some experience / basic competencies.

Farm & livestock hand – level 3 — $26.49/hour full-time/part-time (casual $33.11/hour, $1006.80/week full-time). Experienced hand.

Farm & livestock hand – level 4 — $27.08/hour full-time/part-time (casual $33.85/hour, $1029.10/week full-time). Skilled hand / machinery operation.

Farm & livestock hand – level 5 — $27.55/hour full-time/part-time (casual $34.44/hour, $1046.90/week full-time). Advanced skilled hand.

Farm & livestock hand – level 6 — $27.97/hour full-time/part-time (casual $34.96/hour, $1062.90/week full-time). Highly skilled / leading hand duties.

Farm & livestock hand – level 7 — $29.45/hour full-time/part-time (casual $36.81/hour, $1119.10/week full-time). Specialist / supervisory.

Farm & livestock hand – level 8 — $31.64/hour full-time/part-time (casual $39.55/hour, $1202.50/week full-time). Senior specialist / overseer.

Classification follows skill, responsibility and the type of work:

• Farm and livestock hands Levels 1–8 progress from entry-level station hands through skilled machinery operators to overseers.
• Piggery and poultry attendants are classified separately and do attract ordinary weekend penalties.
• Shearers, shed hands and wool classers are often paid by piecework (per animal/per run) rather than hourly.
• Keep/found arrangements (board and lodging) allow set deductions from wages.

Write each employee’s stream, level and employment type into your payroll/rostering system. If unsure, confirm the right level.

Here’s how the most common roles map to classifications and 2026/27 rates. Use these as a starting point, then confirm the level against the employee’s actual duties.

An entry-level farm or station hand sits at FLH1 — $25.74/hr (casual $32.18/hr), moving to FLH2–3 ($26.44–$26.49/hr) with basic competencies and experience.

A skilled hand operating machinery sits at FLH4 — $27.08/hr, with advanced skilled hands at FLH5 — $27.55/hr and leading hands at FLH6 — $27.97/hr.

A specialist or supervisory hand sits at FLH7 — $29.45/hr, and a senior specialist or overseer at FLH8 — $31.64/hr (casual $39.55/hr).

Farm and livestock hands work a wide spread of ordinary hours and have no ordinary weekend penalty — weekend work is overtime (on the ordinary rate):

• Saturday (overtime): 150%.
• Sunday (overtime): 200%.
• Public holiday: 200% (full-time/part-time); casual higher again.
• Piggery and poultry attendants instead have ordinary Saturday (150%), Sunday (200%) and public holiday (250%) penalties.
• Keep/found deductions: where board and lodging are provided, set amounts may be deducted (about $165.86/week for keep, $42.05/day for found employees).

The calculator above covers ordinary hours, Saturday/Sunday overtime and public holidays for farm and livestock hands. For piggery/poultry, shearing piecework and other streams, use Fair Work’s PACT tool or award-interpreting software.

• Full-time is around 38 hours per week (averaged), ongoing; part-time has a regular agreed pattern.
• Both receive paid annual and personal/carer’s leave (pro-rata for part-time) and other NES entitlements. Seasonal patterns are common in pastoral work.

• Paid a 25% casual loading instead of paid leave, with a minimum engagement per shift.
• Casual overtime and public-holiday rates are higher than the permanent rates because the loading is added to the penalty.

The Pastoral Award’s distinctive arrangements include:

• Keep – where board and lodging are provided, the employer may deduct about $165.86 per week.
• Found – for found employees, deduct about $42.05 per day.
• Leading hand and first aid allowances apply — calculate these via Fair Work’s PACT tool, as the headline rates exclude them.
• Shearing has its own piecework rates and a shearing-cook allowance.

Exact amounts update each pay guide — see the Fair Work pay guide.

Leave comes from the National Employment Standards (NES), which apply on top of the award and cannot be reduced by it. Casual employees receive the loading instead of paid leave, but still get unpaid carer’s and compassionate leave, and paid family and domestic violence leave.

Four weeks per year for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time, accruing progressively from the first day. Employees the award defines as shiftworkers receive a fifth week. Most awards also add annual leave loading — check the leave clause of this award for the rate that applies. See our annual leave guide for how accrual, cash-out and payout on termination work.

• Personal/carer’s leave: 10 days per year for full-time employees, pro-rata for part-time. It accrues and carries over year to year.
• Compassionate leave: 2 days per occasion.
• Family and domestic violence leave: 10 days per year, available to casuals as well, renewing each year rather than accruing.
• Parental leave: 12 months unpaid with a right to request a further 12, alongside the government paid parental leave scheme.
• Public holidays: employees are entitled to be absent on a public holiday; if they work it, the award’s public-holiday penalty applies.

Tracking accruals across mixed full-time, part-time and casual teams is where spreadsheets break down — leave management software keeps balances, requests and approvals in one place.

• Confirm the award and stream (farm/livestock hand, piggery/poultry, shearing; not Horticulture or Meat).
• Download the latest pay guide (FY2026/27).
• Classify each employee by stream and level.
• Set base rates and apply overtime, public-holiday rates and any keep/found deductions.
• Use award-interpreting software so overtime is calculated automatically, and keep records for 7 years.

These are the errors that show up most often when employers audit their own Pastoral Award payroll.

Awards classify on what the employee actually does, their qualifications and their level of responsibility. Two people with the same title can sit on different levels, and someone doing higher duties is owed the higher rate for those hours.

Casual weekend and public-holiday rates are not the permanent penalty plus 25% bolted on afterwards. The award publishes a single casual figure for each penalty — use the rate sheet or the calculator above rather than stacking percentages by hand.

This award carries 3 common allowances. They are easy to overlook because they are not part of the hourly rate, but they are still legally owed — the rate sheet above lists every one.

Where accommodation and keep are provided, the award sets out exactly how much may be deducted. Deducting more than the award permits, or treating board as a substitute for wages, is unlawful.

• Farm & livestock hands Levels 1–8, plus piggery/poultry, shearing and broadacre streams.
• Farm hands have no ordinary weekend penalty — weekend work is overtime (Saturday 1.5×, Sunday 2×).
• Public holidays are 2× (2.5× for piggery/poultry).
• Keep/found deductions apply where board and lodging are provided.
• Update every July and keep good records.

For official guidance, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website.