‘She should have her own show!’ Countryfile viewers go wild over teen farmer, 16, as they praise her for ditching TikTok for chores and working life
- Katie, 16, from Cumbria, wowed Countryfile viewers with her positive attitude
- Read more: Rural audiences slam BBC shows for failing to ‘represent rural issues’
Countryfile viewers went wild over a teenage farmer last night as they praised her for ditching TikTok for chores and working life.
Katie, 16, from Appleby, revealed on the BBC1 programme how she juggles studying for her GCSEs with working on her family’s 250-acre mixed upland farm.
The teenager has a number of jobs to complete every morning, from feeding cows and lambs to helping with any live births.
Despite the challenging work, she said: ‘I do like it, I like the way of life. It’s the freedom that comes with it as well. To some people it may seem strange to have this much responsibility, but it is what motivates me and I do very much like it.’
Many of those watching were amazed by Katie’s positive attitude, with one writing: ‘What an absolute credit to her family young Katie is.
Countryfile viewers went wild over teenage farmer Katie, 16, from Appleby, last night as they praised her for ditching TikTok for chores and working life
The teenager has a number of jobs to complete every morning, from feeding her cows and lambs to helping out with any live births
‘Sky is the limit for this young lady. Go Katie!’
Meanwhile another wrote: ‘What an impressive girl, Katie, they’re interviewing this week!
‘If only they could bottle her good sense and her confidence and issue it out to other teenagers at school, it would be wonderful.’
A third added: ‘Katie on Countryfile should get her own show.’
A fourth commented: ‘Katie is an incredibly impressive young woman. I hope she finds great success in her future career, whatever she chooses to do.’
‘Katie’s parents should be so proud,’ another person wrote. ‘Not wasting her time being some **** on TikTok.
‘She’s farming, contributing, wanting to better herself. Role model right there.’
Twelve years ago, Katie’s parents gave up their jobs as an electrician and an administrator to take up the farm.
Katie was just four years old and the family have been on their farming journey together ever since.
Appearing on the show, the 16-year-old said: ‘At that age, it was just like a big adventure really and wanting to learn more about the farm.
‘How we can improve our livestock welfare and everything like that.’
‘I’ve learnt it from what other people have said and watching other farming programs.
Many of those watching were amazed by Katie’s positive attitude, with some calling her ‘a credit to her family’
‘I try to keep up with the current information. So many things are changing with farming, so sometimes it’s quite hard to know what is currently going on.’
The teenager said she begins her morning chores at the farm at 7am.
Her first job is to feed all of the nine pet lambs, with the teenager adding: ‘In the morning, you’re still a bit asleep and you come out here and you do get woken up by the noise.’
Of all the sheep on the farm, Katie is responsible for 30 of the animals, roughly a quarter of them.
If her sheep give birth, she is in charge of the lambs, which she raises and sells independently from the main flock.
Appearing on the programme, Katie revealed she always viewed life on the farm as ‘an adventure’ (pictured)
Each year, she reinvests her profits into more livestock. She bought some donkeys in 2016, and goats and a cow in 2020.
At 9am, she has breakfast with her parents, saying: ‘Before school I do all my morning jobs and then I come in, have breakfast and get ready for school.’
She also watches over the wild creatures who call the place home.
She said: ‘My favourite season is definitely spring. All those lovely, optimistic sounds that we have here. The marking of new life.
‘If you’ve had a tough winter and it’s been hard work, the peacefulness of those sounds, it helps me get away from that busy schedule of revision and every day jobs on the farm.
Meanwhile the teenager spoke about how she juggles her farm work with her GCSES, and confessed she hopes to study at college in the future
While filming, the reality of farming life is all too evident when she is called to help out with the birth of a lamb which her brother Jack is having difficulty with
She said: ‘I love the sounds of all the birds we have here.’
‘I guess it would be quite quiet if you didn’t have all this wildlife, it definitely makes it feel like home.’
By 11am, she’s feeding the goats and cows, which she bought with her own savings.
She said she ‘doesn’t know what she’s doing’ but said she is ‘constantly learning on the job.’
And while filming, the reality of farming life was all too evident when she is called to help out with the birth of a lamb which her brother Jack is having difficulty with.
She said: ‘I’ve got all my exams in the next couple of weeks. I’m doing okay really, managing my revision really and all the jobs I do on the farm.
‘I’ve got a timetable in my head to go off. I’ve got a cut-off point as well when I’ll stop doing farm jobs.’
‘I’m planning to go and do an agricultural course, I’m sure it’ll be worth it.’
Meanwhile her mother Kirsten said she hopes her daughter will one day take on the farm.
She said: ‘Katie told me if she didn’t have the farm, she could tip into stress.
‘I’d like to think Katie would like to take on the farm but I don’t want her to feel she has to.
‘A part of me thinks that she can’t wait to just think, “Now I’m old enough, this is what I want to do. I want to stop doing that and just do this”.’
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