by Joann Pipkin
Sometimes, Shandell Stewart just needs a day away from the farm.
Other days, conversations with sweet friends are a much-needed pick-me-up.
Stewart wasn’t raised on a farm. Yet today, she finds herself immersed in everything dairy farm life brings on the operation she and husband Aaron manage near Macomb, Mo.
The daily grind can be challenging. Like many farmers, Stewart just needs a little support.
“Sometimes farm wives can feel left out or lonely,” she says. “It’s good to get out of the house for just a few hours once a month and meet with other like women.”
What began a decade ago to help connect female farmers, Women in Dairy provides those like Stewart a community safe place.
Organizer and University of Missouri Extension dairy specialist Reagan Bluel says Women in Dairy has evolved into a social and learning environment for participants.
“Meeting topics have evolved over time,” Bluel explains. “Initially, I was trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, trying to force scientific content onto these ladies. That’s not what they were wanting.”
Embracing farming challenges
Stewart admits she isn’t a homebody, so when farm duties call for her to be on-site every day, the responsibilities weigh heavy.
“Being able to get off the farm and have another adult conversation with someone other than my husband is a big deal to me,” Stewart explains. “I like other communication and conversation and laughs. I mean, just other women. You can talk to them about anything.”
Stewart says she’s comfortable talking with other women in dairy, although it wasn’t always easy. In the beginning, she didn’t want to feel inferior because of not growing up on the farm.
“But I never once felt that,” she says. “I never felt awkward or out of place.”
And whether she needs social support or is looking for ways to improve her family’s dairy operation, Stewart says the Women in Dairy network has provided a solid foundation for her.
“Farming is a hard job, and it can get very lonely,” Stewart says. “[Women in Dairy] is like a little vacation day. And that helps your mental load.”
Learning to lean on each other
Bluel says Women in Dairy is all about embracing the needs of the community around women involved in agriculture.
“It’s not the organization that does it,” she says. “It’s each individual woman that’s involved in the program because they create a network of love and understanding that only other women in dairy could possibly comprehend.”
While farm families often refrain from taking regular time off, dairying can be especially demanding, from twice a daily milkings to calf feeding and other demanding chores.
“This is organic,” Bluel says. “These are the girls that show up for each other. I have even found them networking around me when I was in my darkest of times. Never did I ever expect this program to serve me and help me be a better dairy Extension specialist, but it has.”
Women in Dairy was resurrected from a program that originally began in the late 1990s. Bluel says a group of southern Missouri dairy industry leaders recognized a need within the community for women to have support and a safe place to learn.
“Rural communities are different,” Bluel explains.
It’s common in small communities for everyone to know each other’s burdens. Programs like Women in Dairy help create an environment for participants to share, overcome and grow together.
“I’ve realized that if we create this learning environment, this safe space for women just having a good time, then innately their questions bubble up,” Bluel says. “They want to know best management practices. Ultimately, everybody winds up benefiting.”
Networking for farming’s future
In addition to Women in Dairy, MU Extension also offers Pearls of Production, a hands-on educational program for women involved in livestock production.
The leadership and training opportunity focuses on topics such as farm safety, health concerns, policy and regulatory issues related to livestock production.
For Stewart, her time with Women in Dairy is the support she needs to not only carry on with her daily farm duties, but also to seek out ways to improve her family’s operation.
“The support and the social are a big deal for me personally,” she says. “We talk about feeding, production, how and what to feed your calves. You get a lot of different ideas.”
The connections Stewart has forged through the group are valuable as well.
In a day and time when labor, management and financial stress can become more than one can bear, having an outlet for farming’s woes goes a long way to preserving the future of the industry.
“I call all of the women that I’ve been in meetings with [my friend],” Stewart notes. “And I hope they could call me a friend. Having that friend is important to me.”
Pipkin writes from Republic, Mo.