youngsRPS Women In Agriculture - Flipbook - Page 10
KATHRYN
DAVIS
Farm Vet Technician and Co. Durham
Farmer
just pretty confused as to why or how I ended up in these
situations – but regardless I loved it! I knocked on door
after door of farms, rang various numbers and didn’t get
very far as nobody took me quite seriously until I became
more familiar within the community after a couple of years
of proving I was more than just a young blonde girl from a
council estate.
What changes, if any, would you like to see within the
industry to ensure the success of women in agriculture?
I just wish that farmers (and its not just the old men, ladies
too) would give us a chance to prove ourselves before
deciding we’re no good just because we don’t fit the
stereotype doesn’t mean we don’t have the work in us.
Knowing what you do now, and the experience you have,
what advice would you go back and give your younger
self before embarking on a career in agriculture?
Don’t take everyone too seriously, the problem with
farmers is they give this grumpy impression which is
actually (usually) not the case. Don’t be so intimidated by
people, I think I would have stressed a lot less about ‘fitting
in’ if I knew then what I do now.
What is your current role within the agricultural
industry?
I work as a Farm Vet Technician at Castle Farm Vets,
Barnard Castle, as well as working on our family sheep and
cattle farm in Teesdale, Co.Durham.
As a woman in agriculture, have you come across any
challenges or obstacles?
As a woman who is not from a farming background but
always had absolutely anything country at heart, I always
knew I didn’t belong in the towns. Going to agricultural
college at 18 after failing to engage with A Levels, I knew
from the get go as a young blonde female it wasn’t going
to be an easy industry to get into but luckily for me it
never killed my passion. I was told by a male lecturer I
would never get anywhere within the Agricultural industry
if I didn’t Marry a farmer, on my first lambing job I was
asked why I wasn’t working behind the cosmetic counter at
Boots and it confused most of the farmers on my first visit
to the Auction Mart when they asked who my father was
and my reply was “his name is Gilbert Jordan but you won’t
know him, he isn’t a farmer”… it was as if everyone was
What do you believe is the measure of a successful
woman in agriculture?
I personally believe a woman who can bring up 3
children, juggle housework, paperwork, a career outside
the home and farm at home is a pretty successful
woman and a happy one at that.
And finally, what is your favourite thing about working
within the agricultural industry?
I love how rewarding agriculture is, and not in the financial
sense. The feeling you get after the sheep pen is empty
after a long days dosing or when you’re cattle have made a
good price in the ring after you’ve bucket reared them from
young or watching the grass grow in the first fields you’ve
bought, ploughed and re-seeded and nothing will top that
feeling of lambing my first ever sheep born and selling the
tup lamb as a breeding tup.
Watching my children grow up with an amazing
understanding of the world and how and why it all works
from such a young age, their understanding that you get
nothing in life without hard graft because they’ve watched
their mam and dad work from morning till night and
sometimes through the night. Lastly being part of the
amazing community of people in which we are surrounded
by who are always willing to help each other out and come
together when needed.