The New Face Of Aussie Farming!

When one thinks of a typical farmer, the image that normally comes to mind is of an older man in a checked shirt, driving his tractor or seeing to his cows. Oh how times have changed.

Forget the old stereotype; there is a new face of farming.

The Australian Telegraph has reported that more and more Aussie women are becoming farmers.

Astonishingly it was found that at Tocal Agricultural College, out of the 400 graduates last year, a massive 70% were women.

Tocal principal, Cameron Archer, said a majority of the women wanted to work on farms while some used the courses as a stepping stone to university. Mr Archer said:

"None go to the city. They all go to the country and a fair amount go to northern Australia to work on cattle stations."

It is claimed that the main reason behind this shift in industry is the fact that men are being lured away from agricultural work over to the mines which offers much more money.

More women are going for the agricultural jobs such as agribusiness, working as vets, or physically working on and running farms.

The Daily Telegraph have said it is called the ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ effect, however they say:

“but to those women on the land it is no television melodrama. They can fix a fence, muster a mob of cattle and drive a tractor - it's all in a day's work.

Jock Laurie, the National Farmers’ Federation President, has said that these recent figures prove the industry is changing. He believes that this is due to the improvement in technology which has taken out a degree of the physical work associated with agricultural work. Mr Laurie said:

"We are seeing for the first time all-women shearing teams, which is amazing. And the good thing is you don't need to come out of a agricultural background to get a job in agriculture."

Yesterday’s Sydney’s Royal Easter Show saw many women working in the cattle pavilion. One of these women was Rachael Wheeler, a fifth-generation farmer.

Ms Wheeler said women are now more accepted in this day and age because they had proved their worth and were running their own studs. She said:

"We do the same job, the only difference is the brute strength men have,"

Ms Wheeler said she has accomplished her dream of breeding top quality cattle and winning the Hordern, the Easter show’s top prize. She said:

"It's in my blood. I love to educate people and tell them what we do because it's a great job."