Meet the 14-year-old girl challenging stigmas in farming

September 28, 2023

Pieta Sidey, 14, is a sixth generation sheep farmer who wants to keep the Corriedale breed going and challenge stigmas about females out in the field. (Source: Seven Sharp)

In a field dominated by men of older generations, 14-year-old Pieta Sidey refuses to let anyone pull wool over her eyes.

As a boarding school student and a sixth generation farmer, she spends five days a week studying, then hightails it home on Friday to run her own sheep stud.

Pieta breeds Corriedales, but her connection to her flock is specially woven into her DNA.

"[The breed] is very special because my triple great grandfather - quadruple even - he created the breed, James Little," she told Seven Sharp

She and her granddad Doc Sidey even showed off an ancestral return on Corriedales from 1903, or 120 years ago.

So far, Pieta has nine ewes in her Mallochvale stud, and she's saving pennies for more.

"It's quite funny, 'cause my friends [are] spending their money on ... a new pair of clothes, I just need to save my money to buy some more ewes," she laughed.

She's proud to be continuing a family tradition, but beyond the farm gate Pieta sometimes can't find a foothold in a male-dominated industry.

"I never understood why some of the older guys weren't keen on me helping with the sheep and getting in there, and I remember I'd have the odd little cry to Mum about it," she said.

"My dad and my grandfather have always been so supportive of me, so when other guys weren't I was a bit confused."

Her granddad - a fourth generation farmer - doesn't think breeding is a "man's domain".

"I think Pieta shows us that a female, whether they're working a dog or looking after a sheep or riding a horse, sometimes [has] a much better touch with animals than males do, and she's going rather well," he said.

Regardless of what some might think of her, Pieta is determined to make her mark and hopes the industry can catch up to her family's flock.

"Female farmers should just be a normal thing but it's not, and especially the older generations have to be more accepting of girls for their future in farming."

Watch Pieta Sidey's century-in-the-making story in the video above.

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