University held little appeal for Prue Milgate, when her parents first suggested she leave the family farm.
Mrs Milgate, 31, runs the family property, near Serpentine, in Victoria’s Loddon Valley area, with husband Luke.
“I was born and bred here, I’m one of four girls and the fifth generation in this district - the original paddock was just up the road,” Ms Milgate said.
“I didn’t want to go university, I naturally could do it, but I wanted to be on the farm.”
She said she is now thankful her parents, Garry and Kaye, did encourage her to study – and she knows why.
“My parents encouraged me to go away to university because I was female, and they said it would be hard road; I needed to prove it and show I was dedicated and really wanted it.
“I am indebted to them, because it has really opened a lot of doors.”
Several degrees later, working for the water industry and involvement on Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) and government ministerial councils, and Mrs Milgate said she things were getting easier for young women in agriculture.
“I had a hard slog, getting into agriculture – mainly from men, I’ll say. They said I was crazy and what right did I have to come into a very male dominated sector.
“But I believed I needed to make it better for other young women who had the same passion I did and I believe we are getting there.”
She has experienced some of those old prejudices again, now she is pregnant.
“I think things are starting to change, but now I am pregnant, I have a lot of problems, especially from men, who believe I am on my husbands farm, or that my husband is running the farm.
“I say, ‘no, I don’t take maternity leave,’ I am 35 weeks pregnant, I am still driving a tractor, still moving sheep, doing everything I did everything I did before hand - but not as much.”
Following her studies, Mrs Milgate came back onto the family farm, in time to see everything go under in the 2011 floods.
“It was probably the hardest two years in my life, we went 100 per cent under water and lost every fence on the property - but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and now I have realised we can achieve anything.”
She said she stood for the North Central Catchment Board, as “no-one else was willing to put their hands up.
“We had a lot of damage around here and a lot of people whingeing – I was one of them – but I realised if I wanted to have a whinge, I needed to try and make a difference, to fix what we were whingeing about.”
As one of a handful of Victoria’s young female farmers, she had been asked to serve on the government’s young farmers advisory board.
“It’s a wonderful thing to be part of, there is a lot of passion in the room which we are still trying to harness and put in the right direction, I think with the minister’s (Jaala Pulford’s) listening.
She said she wasn’t concerned which party was in power – “I don’t care, if they are listening, if we can help make a difference to the next generation, I will work with them, as much as I can.”
Mrs Milgate identified the continuing drought and making sure young people were not lost to the industry, as key priorities.
“I have a couple of young friends who have made the decision to sell, before the decision is made for them, because they are in that much debt they will lose everything.”
She said there was also a need for more skills training, for young farmers.
“The issue is, if you have a degree, you are not eligible for funded training or discounts - that puts a lot of young people in ag off,” Mrs Milgate said.
“In drought, most farmers don’t have spare money to throw at training - yes we need a forklift licence, but that could be a couple of thousand dollars which could go into seed, to go back into the paddock.”
Farming was a lifestyle, second to none.
“I don’t think you can beat it – you have a different job, every day of the week, you can get up in the morning and have plans and they can go out the window,” she said.
“You can work out a lot of the adversities, but there are a hell of a lot of good things too - you just ride out the highs and lows – you adapt to it, and with technology, we will continually adapt to lower rainfall, while producing more food.”
