Education opens doors to success windows of opportunity and in at least one case, gates to new possibilities. Such is the case with ADL success story Annabella Baker. Originally from Italy, but now living in the UK, Annabella faced a tragedy all too familiar to many when she lost her airline job during the Covid 19 outbreak.
As a woman in her fifties, she was left in the painful situation of trying to find a job and facing the not-so-subtle age discrimination that too many loyal, hardworking employees face when their Employer suddenly decides they don’t need them anymore casting them on the scrap heap with little to no warning.
Though she missed flying, rather than trying to get back into her old field, Anabella decided to try something new. She had always had an interest in animals and farming and decided to take a job on a farm. Originally she was only employed as a cleaner, cleaning out the pens of the cows she worked around.
From Flight Attendant to Herdswoman – A New Career
Looking to expand her knowledge she enrolled in a course in Dairy Cattle Management with ADL. Given that she was already working on the farm she had the perfect opportunity to get hands on experience with the cows. Her Farmer employer noticed this and began to expand her responsibilities around the farm as her knowledge grew, giving her the opportunity to grow properly into the role of a flexible farmhand.
“I said to the farmer one day ‘I handed in an assignment on mastitis yesterday’ “ said Anabelle as one anecdote of her growing responsibilities during her course. “He said that now I knew what to look for and would I include checking for mastitis among my growing responsibilities in caring for the herd”. Like human women, mastitis is a condition that causes soreness and swelling in the breasts or udders of the cow. Thus it’s important to keep an eye on in order to protect the welfare and comfort of cows as well as their productivity.
Working with the cows built a bond between Annabelle and her bovine charges. “I didn’t know anything about Cows before I began working on the farm. But as I got to know them and studied more about them in my course I began to feel for them and how similar as a woman I am to them in many respects. As I continued my studies I learned about the proper care of cows, how to look out for sickness and even how to round them all up in a tractor!”
Life After the Farm
Sadly, for health reasons Annabelle eventually had to give up working on the farm. But her experiences both gave her a wonderful chance to try something new in her life as well as opened the door to her next opportunity, working as a buyer for a farm store. “They said at my interview that my experience and knowledge put me at the top of the list of ten candidates” she said.
Her lived experience, studies and accumulated knowledge also led to a new opportunity as a published author. Annabelle has published three books inspired by her experiences as a woman in farming:
Mental Health in Farming – an issue close to her heart was written as she wanted to give something back after grappling with her own mental health after losing her airline job and tried to find solace on the land. 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Yellow Wellies foundation, a part of the NFU concerned with mental health in farming.
Dinner at the Peninsula is a novel about an English couple on holiday facing difficulties caused by mental health issues that the characters struggle to explain and overcome. Though fictional it was inspired again by Annabella’s own personal experiences struggling with mental health while living and working in the countryside.
And finally there is Daisy and Tulip’s Book of Memories; a childrens book based on a true story of her own experiences working on the farm and two very special cows that befriended her.
Success with ADL
Annabella credits many of her achievements as not being possible without the course. “At the start, I didn’t understand which cow’s you could milk and which you couldn’t”. She says. “But as my knowledge grew so did my confidence”. She found that the flexibility of the course was key to her ability to study while working a practical life of long days on the farm. “Sometimes I’d be too tired to study, but that was okay. I could do it at my own pace. I got there in the end”.
“I’m extremely grateful that I was able to have these experiences. I hope that my experiences can show other women and girls that they too can work in farming. If I can do it at fifty anyone can!”