BACK in 2020, Laura Windle was a palliative care worker and self-styled “city girl”.

And while the rest of the world was adjusting to a new life stuck inside their homes amid the pandemic, she had dreams of becoming a female farmer living in the countryside.

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Laura Windle, 39, decided to action her dreams of becoming a farmer in 2021Credit: tiktok/@swearingshepherdess

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She now tends to over 100 animals across seven acres of landCredit: tiktok/@swearingshepherdess

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Among her livestock is donkeys, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, geese, ducks and chickensCredit: tiktok/@swearingshepherdess
Fast forward to today, the 39-year-old has achieved that dream.

She is a farmer tending to over eight species of animals – including cows, sheep, goats, chickens, black geese, ducks and donkeys – across seven acres of land.

However, Sheffield-born Laura is a statistical anomaly.

She’s younger than the average farmer, she’s a woman and she’s not from a farming family in an industry that historically relies on father-to-son succession.

Only 15% of principle farmers and farm holders in the UK are aged under 45-years-old and only 16% are female, according to research from Defra’s Survey of Agriculture published in September.

“Whatever men can do, women can also do,” Laura tells Fabulous.

“I think that women have a hard time in the farming industry.

“I did think to myself at the start, ‘nobody is going to take me seriously’.

“I went through all of that in my head.

“Someone like me – a woman of colour – is not what you see out in the countryside a lot.”

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The mum-of-three, whose grown-up sons still live in Sheffield, is proud to not be your average farmer.

She loves getting facials, nail art and a bit of lip filler, and can often be seen looking glamorous with styled tresses and a full-face of make-up when mucking out pens and bottle-feeding lambs.

“I have a rule: every single morning, you have to give yourself half an hour,” she says.

“When you look in the mirror, you need to be happy with yourself.

“I can perform my best and look after my animals best when I feel good about myself.”

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Laura’s grandfather had a career in agriculture in JamaicaCredit: tiktok/@swearingshepherdess

Female Farmer Statistics

Only 15% of principle farmers and holders are female
A cool 17% of female farmers are younger than 35-years-old
There were 8.7% casual female farm workers in 2024 compared to 2023
There were 11,905 casual female farm workers in 2024, down from 13,033 in 2023

Source: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Laura was raised in South Yorkshire by her Jamaican grandparents, with her grandad having a career in agriculture on the Caribbean island before emigrating to the UK in the Fifties.

She remembers her grandad guiding her through his allotment as a child, where she first learned the art of growing crops.

So, when the call of the countryside came in 2021 after months of Googling “farms for rent”, it felt less like a leap and more like a natural progression.

Whatever men can do, women can also do

Laura Windle

Laura moved into a caravan on a plot of land in the Ilkley Moors, owned by a traditional father-and-son farming duo.

“I’d never lived in a caravan but I thought that if it’s what gets me into the countryside, I’m prepared to do it,” she tells.

She worked alongside the farmers who owned the land she was living on to look after their sheep and donkeys.

There, Laura realised that she had a talent for shepherding – and as her skills grew, so did her farmyard brood.

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Female farmer Laura views her animals as her pets – and would never send them to slaughterCredit: tiktok/@swearingshepherdess
To raise cash to set up her own farm, she rented out her newly-renovated caravan and slept in a metal container while tending to her animals.

By early 2023, she had enough money to move to Derbyshire and set up My Pets Palace, the affectionate name for her farm.

She now lives in a cottage on her seven acres of land and tends to more than 100 animals.

Laura is single and does everything by herself – including bottle-feeding her lambs, building pens, shearing her sheep and managing her homemade allotment (which she made herself out of recycled tyres).

If Prince Charming was to ever come and lend a hand, that would be fantastic

Laura Windle

“If Prince Charming was to ever come and lend a hand, that would be fantastic,” she jokes.

Laura primarily utilises social media to finance her farm as she’s not keen on sending any of her animals to slaughter for money – “they’re my babies,” she says.

She is known to her 180,000 loyal fans as The Swearing Shepherdess.

On TikTok, fans send her “gifts” which can be transferred into money, and they also purchase farm-themed merchandise on the My Pets Palace website.

Someone like me – a woman of colour – is not what you see out in the countryside a lot

Laura Windle

British farming is currently at a fragile crossroads due to changes caused by Brexit, food industry subsidies and muddy food production policies.

And following the Labour budget last month, a row erupted over the new taxes for farms worth more than £1 million.

Farmers have warned that the so-called “tractor tax” will be the death of their sector and protested in tractors outside the Welsh Labour conference on Saturday.

“I don’t really look into politics because it will all change in just four years,” Laura comments.

“I’m just like, ‘you do know governments change their mind probably more than their underpants?’

“However, I would like to pass this career on to my grandson.”