Ten days, 10,000 cows, one woman.
Marie Stephenson, 45, an agricultural professional from Warton, Lancaster, is aiming to milk 10,000 cows in 10 days while travelling the length of the country to raise money for charity.
She will set off from Scotland on 3 August and head south towards Devon over the following 10 days.
The One Woman, 10 Days, 10,000 Milking Cows challenge will support the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, RABI, a charity providing practical and emotional support to farmers across England and Wales.
Stephenson said she wanted to raise awareness for mental wellbeing and the physical demands of farming, and described the challenge as coming from “a very personal place”.
After university, she milked professionally at a dairy farm for just over a year. She said she would visit a range of different parlours during the challenge.
At times, she said, she would use rotary machinery to milk a number of cows at the same time.
“At some rotary parlours you can have 72 cows being milked at a time,” she said.
“There is somebody going to be stood there just in case like I get shoulder cramps or anything of course not because I don’t milk every day.”
Stephenson said the fundraiser followed losses close to her family and local farming community.
“After a series of losses close to my family and local farming community, I saw the impact left behind on families, schools and whole communities,” said Stephenson.
“Mental health in agriculture is starting to impact younger and younger people and so I just felt like I needed to do something about it.”
She said farming could be “a lonely, lonely job” and that she wanted to raise awareness and “bring some light to the farms I milk at and help open conversations about mental health in farming”.
“It was just about doing something that was simple and also challenging,” she said.
“So I was sitting in bed and the idea came to me and I said to my husband what about milking 10,000 cows in 10 days from the bottom of the country to the top.”
RABI said regional farm networks were already coordinating routes to make sure she reaches the 10,000 milestone.
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