Katja Williams equips rural mums, wives with necessary skills
New South Wales’ farmer Katja Williams equips rural women with the necessary physical, social and emotional skills for life on the land.
Katja Williams has is helping rural women navigate the challenges of farm life – from the labour and lifestyle, to managing families.
Katja, of Dubbo, NSW, launched The Ultimate Farm Wife – formerly The Rural Mum – two years ago as an online social media account, YouTube channel, and podcast.
She now has up to 1000 downloads for each podcast episode, more than 17,334 views across 134 videos, and is gaining a steady online following with listeners from across Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Katja, who is self-taught in media, initially started the project to connect with other women experiencing similar challenges living on farms, as a way to offer problem solving.
She wanted her platform to provide easy access to support, information and solutions.
“I was assigned to a mum’s group but I found being a mum on the land, my problem solving was not in the same realm as the other mums in the group,” she said.
Her most recent topics include business value-adding, succession planning, rural-to-suburban transitions, essential station logistics and more.
“I’m a natural talker, so the interviewing side of things came naturally,” she said.
Katja has since interviewed 70 women, including agricultural group representatives, cattle showing champions, remote station families, international farmers and more.
Katja is currently organising a conference – the 2025 Harvest Her Power, Empowerment and Skills – to teach hands-on skills with farm safety, fencing, safety and tractor driving. She said the conference would also feature speakers on loss and grief, with baby loss mentor Rochelle Olsen.
“We’ll be working through those skills that aren’t taught. Through the interviews I’ve done it was highlighted that if something happens on the farm, the farm just keeps going,” she said.
“You can be isolated geographically but also internally because everyone grieves differently.”
She hoped to host the conference at Dubbo’s Taronga Western Plains Zoo to be family-friendly, with a zoo pass, yoga, and meditation before the “hard stuff”.
Katja studied a Bachelor of Criminology and worked in a juvenile justice centre before she had a tea company for five years and did fly-in, fly-out safety work at mines across NSW and the Northern Territory.
She now has three children and a fourth on the way with her husband Ned, with Eddie, 4, Max, 3, and Caroline, 18 months.
They have a Polldale Shorthorn stud near Dubbo, NSW, with 150 calving cows, 100 calving heifers and 120 bull yearlings. They have another 710 at Warren, NSW, alongside up to 1000 trade steers.
They also grow oats and lucerne with their cropping and irrigation operations, with about 4500 hectares between all properties.
“I came from a small sheep farm, I knew some of the basics but I also came from one of four girls, and my husband is one of three boys,” she said.
“The farm is very much setup in that aspect, the family traditions were very different, we were raised to be very outspoken and independent and ‘you can do anything’.
“It takes time to integrate into a family farming business and to then rebuild your place on-farm and what that looks like will change depending on the season of your life.”
Katja Williams has been nominated for the 2024 Shine Awards, which celebrate the achievements of rural and regional women across Australia. Click here to nominate an outstanding woman you know.
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