Custodians of our COUNTRYSIDE

What's it like to work on a farm for a living? These women wouldn't change their jobs for the world

- JENNY JEFFERIES

There were just over 25,000 women farmers in the UK in 2016  and the number is rising all the time. Female students now outnumber men almost 2:1 on agricultural higher education courses, and more and more are going on to run their own farms. Here, three women farmers describe what makes the job so rewarding.

My cows are my pride and joy'

Abi Reader, 41, runs a farm in the Vale of Glamorgan, with her father and uncle. The farm is mainly dairy, but they also rear sheep and have 150 acres of arable crops.

My typical day starts with milking the cows at 4.15am. This takes about four hours, including gathering them in from the fields - or sheds if it's winter and cleaning up everything afterwards. The calves are then fed, and it's time for me to have my second breakfast.

After that, there is yard work, feeding and paperwork. Sometimes the vet will call, or the foot-trimmer, or the nutritionist. By 3.30pm, it's milking time again. I do a final check of all the animals before I finish at 7pm.

When you're a farmer, there's so much to put a smile on your face - the skylark's song, the sick calf finally recovering after days of nursing, the peace in the evening with all the cows lying down in the fields.