Laura has always had a passion for animal health with a lifelong goal of dairy farming, starting work on her parents’ dairy farm when she was 16 whilst studying Level three Certificate in Agriculture.
In 2015 Laura suffered a severe back injury and had to step away from the farm for six months. Because of her family’s Scottish heritage, she always dreamed of having a miniature highland and this is when Maggie came into her life. She leased a 2ha block of land and also got her first goat, Dave, to keep Maggie company. After being told she would have to give up farming, Laura believes that Maggie and Dave were the reasons for motivating her to get out of bed as she would go outside for a walk to check and talk to them every day.
“They kept me levelheaded, realising that they needed me, but I needed them more and without them I truly believe I would have been in a deep downward spiral of depression,” said Laura. Six months later, after rest and rehabilitation, Laura was able to return to work and slowly began getting back into her full time role on the farm. Highland Maggie then gave birth to Evy, who was fragile and should have died. After being on IV fluids and a night inside with Laura, Evy pulled through and her and Mum Maggie would be brought into a calf pen each night for a month in order for Evy to thrive. It was at this time, Zoe the goat joined the family. She would go on play dates with Dave and come home with Laura at night to stay warm by the fire.
Then six months later, Laura hurt her back again, ending up on crutches, having to stop farming, this time for almost 12 months. Laura found it very hard walking out the door and seeing what she was not able to be a part of, so she moved away from the farm and her animals were shifted to a paddock by her parents’ house.
During this time off the farm, Laura was told by ACC that they were going to train her in another field. However, she was determined to continue farming and made the decision to return home and get her body strong enough to be able to do what she wanted and that was farming.
“My passion has always been animal health,” said Laura. “I believe that comes hand in hand with production, animal welfare and therefore business because if the cows are not healthy, they will not make you money. It was then I started understanding how to feed the cows as well as how to treat them.”
In 2020, three more special characters, Whitey the Friesian cow, Geoff the goat and Barry the sheep, joined the family at a time that would turn out to be very important in Laura’s life.
Laura had been having cortisone injections in her back for the past two years. However, in late 2020 it all went wrong, and she was diagnosed with CRPS (chronic regional pain syndrome), which affects her back and entire left leg.
But once again, Laura’s special animal friends played a huge role in helping to get her through each day and after a couple of months of being immobile, she made it her mission to get Whitey ready for showing.
“She was my reason to get out of bed each day,” said Laura. “She is pretty special and is just like the Highlands. If you haven’t gone and seen her in a week, she will turn her nose up at you and walk away.”
“I have had a very up and down rocky road with my body giving up on me. My animals have played a massive part in my life and each one has had a role in helping me immensely,” she said. “People think you are nuts when you talk to animals, but they get it, and Whitey knows if I have had a bad day.”
With her disability, there are days when dairy farming can be hard, but Laura would like to do something to use her passion with animals. Whether it is to do with animal health, fertility or using the skills she has to help other farmers with herd records and continue doing something she enjoys.
