LAND GIRL'S PRIDE: Me & Mum ran a farm!

MARGARET LEFT SCHOOL AT 15 DUE TO A FAMILY CRISIS, AND IN THE PROCESS PAVED THE WAY FOR MODERN-DAY FARMING WOMEN

- Leena Tailor

When Margaret Vickers joined her new husband Robin on his family farm in Midhirst, Taranaki, at 19, there was a common theme in the phone calls she’d receive. “Bank managers, lawyers, stock agents – they’d all say, ‘Can I talk to Robin, please?’

“I’d respond, ‘I can help. I’m a partner.’ From the moment we started farming together, we were in partnership, which wasn’t heard of back then. It hit me a wee bit that people didn’t see me as having any value. Even though I was farmer, vet, mum, cook, doing the books and everything on the farm, it took a while for the business sector to realise women can do this too.”

Today, it would be a brave soul who dares question the 76-year-old’s value and capabilities. In addition to a lifetime of farming expertise, the mother of two and grandmother of seven has been recognised for her extensive community and philanthropic achievements.

It’s a long way from the shy young girl growing up with her parents, Ruth and Albert, and three siblings in Cardiff, Taranaki. Helping with farm duties, she was taught the “basics of life – like cooking, sewing and gardening” – and her gorgeous gardens and floral art now win praise and stop passers-by.

Although her love for animals ignited veterinary dreams, life changed at 15 when Albert was hospitalised with leptospirosis, an infection commonly contracted from animals.