Farm Manager

Department: Live Production
Reporting to: Live Production Manager
FLSA Status: Exempt
Send resumes to lindsayp@braswellfamilyfarms.com
Location: Nash County, NC
Revised: 8/25/2025

Position Summary

The Farm Manager is responsible for the management and direction of all live production and maintenance operations for the assigned farm. The purpose of this role is to assist in planning, directing, and overseeing all production business concerns, including safety, animal husbandry, personnel management, budget management, cost control and operating efficiencies. This person will provide management oversight of day-to-day farm operations and long-term production work, activities, and project work.

Key Duties & Responsibilities:  

  • Drives all live farm production efficiencies to include expenses and budgets, facility & equipment maintenance, flock scheduling, vaccinations, feed conversion & scheduling, biosecurity, and mortality. Focus on reducing and controlling production labor costs while improving production output.

  • Continuously leads animal welfare & employee safety programs and initiatives for production operations. Supports other safety matters throughout the farm complex. Ensures that all employees are working safely. Manages training/retraining and implements changes with purpose and urgency.

  • Oversees farm-wide areas of poultry husbandry, flock management, bird scheduling and movement. Works with leaders and teams on activities, projects and issues that address farm personnel, financials, feed management and other Production matters to ensure Braswell’s strategic and tactical priorities are successfully addressed. Ensures proper execution of all Production SOPs.

  • Works with Live Production Manager to effectively manage all farm expenditures including operating budget and capital investments related to Production. Interacts with vendors on matters of service and supplies to ensure that the operation remains both productive and fiscally efficient.

  • Selects and hires all farm production employees. Collaborates effectively with Human Resources to ensure recruiting and staffing practices are consistent with Braswell Family Farms policy and labor laws. Oversees job changes and promotions for internal candidates.

  • Manages performance-related issues and decisions, and training plans for salaried and hourly employees. Works within labor budgets and salary ranges to reward and compensate employees based on performance and skills.

  • Manages the succession planning process to ensure a continuous flow of talent exists for key farm production positions.

  • Oversees and conducts regular audits of production facilities independent of and in conjunction with farm production leaders, veterinarian, safety and operations management. Ensures that appropriate actions are taken based on the results of the audit.

  • Oversees environmental and animal sampling for disease identification and prevention. Coordinates related activities. Works closely with veterinarian in combating all bird health challenges.

  • Leads problem solving and troubleshooting activities for farm production. Leads the continuous process improvement initiatives. Administers and implements such improvement programs as are developed for production.

  • Performs all other duties deemed necessary by leadership but not specifically mentioned in this job description.

  • Helps drive all of BFF’s Environment Management Systems (EMS) in an impactful manner to include monitoring/testing lagoons and irrigation of lagoons.  Reduces negative effects on the environment as well as pollution prevention.

Skills & Experience:

  • Analytical skills: Master of live production efficiency drivers/Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

  • Ability and experience in successfully managing and directing people and their work. Leads by example, jumping in when necessary to keep operation moving. Ability to motivate and lead employees.

  • Ability and willingness to communicate routine and urgent production issues and needs to operations. Escalate issues as appropriate and in a timely fashion to ensure information is shared effectively.

  • Ability to work successfully with all levels of employees and internal groups/teams, while providing leadership and coaching as appropriate and necessary. Ability to work with and manage outside vendors and suppliers.

  • Collaborative: ability to influence people in all roles and levels in the organization.

  • Strong leadership, management, operational and analytical skills.

  • Ability to discern quickly, capture the essence of a problem and make sound judgments from minimal information. Ability to translate observations into actionable plans.

  • Ability to think and act strategically with the capacity for growth in strategic thinking ability.

  • Strong problem-solving skills, and proven project management and continuous improvement experience and coordination of multiple projects simultaneously.

  • Open and direct communicator; excellent verbal and written communication skills.

  • Ability to be self-directed in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced environment.

  • Focus on accuracy and detail.

  • Sound judgment and unwavering ethics.

  • Self-motivation, independent work habits.

  • Strong computer skills. Ability to manage multiple priorities.

  • Ability to lift 40 lbs., Work standing for a minimum of 6 hours a day.

  • Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred.

Education and/or Experience:

College degree in animal science or 5+ years in flock management preferred. 5+ years of experience in the intake, care and moving of adolescent chickens. Supervisory experience with proven ability to train, motivate, coach, discipline, and retain talent. The successful candidate will have experience directing and performing maintenance functions.

Certifications/Licenses:

Must have a valid driver’s license; Must meet company’s driving record requirements

Competencies:

  1. Safety — To ensure all safety standards are met and followed to the fullest. Must be alert at all times and use best common judgment.

  2. Housekeeping — To supervise and ensure that all work areas are maintained - clean and litter free at all times… i.e. sweeping, dusting and debris removal are all mandatory parts of housekeeping.

  3. Security — To ensure that the site is secure at all times, i.e. checking all access doors and making sure they are closed at all times. Question, control and report people who do not belong in immediate work area.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Language Skills:

Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.  Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.  Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.   

Mathematical Skills: 

Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure – using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.  Ability to compute rate, ratio and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Reasoning Ability:

Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed, but involved written and oral instructions.  Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  Must be able to adapt to farm work environments which could include cold, heat. Individual will be exposed to high noise levels.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; stoop and kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk or hear; and taste or smell.  The employee frequently is required to stand and climb or balance.  The employee is occasionally required to sit.  The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential functions.  Must possess the ability to work in an agricultural environment, indoors, outdoors, office, warehouse, processing, and farm production areas each varying in temperature, odor and other environment specific atmospheres.

Animal Welfare Commitment:

Braswell Foods is fully committed to providing our animals with a safe and healthy environment, free from abuse and treated humanely in all aspects.All employees are obligated by moral duty, Braswell Foods requirements (refer to Animal Welfare Policy), and legal obligation to uphold the strictest animal welfare-structured environment and are obligated to report any incidents of abuse, neglect or breach of bio-security for the health and welfare of our animals.

Food Safety and Quality:

All employees play a crucial part in ensuring compliance with food safety regulations and maintaining the highest standards of food quality. You must always support food safety initiatives and contribute to a culture of food safety excellence.

Non-Smoking Work Environment:

No smoking allowed in workplace, break areas, or on any company property. No smoking in company provided vehicles.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Braswell Foods is an equal opportunity employers and will not discriminate against anyone with regard to race, sex, national origin, color, religion, age or any disability, in compliance with Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as amended, or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Disclaimer:

Although this job description lists and identifies the primary duties of the listed position, it is not an exclusive list. As with all positions at Braswell Foods, the very nature and diversification of an egg production facility requires that all employees remain flexible to cover a wide variety of duties that may need covered.

The Information contained in this job description is not only to inform you of the requirements of this position, but will also be used to evaluate your work performance. This will include assisting in a determination of whether or not you will be entitled to certain bonuses and/or raises, and whether or not performance related disciplinary action would be taken against you.