Kelly Dowling, the only full-time farmer of her generation in the Gunning district, crutches sheep, wields a crowbar and fears for the future of the land.
"It's a part of you, it is who you are," she said.
Married to a wool broker and with a two-year-old son, Ned, 33-year-old Ms Dowling is a rare species in the bush.
Farmers her age are driving trucks, fencing or commuting to Orange to work in open cut and underground gold mines to earn income during the drought.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 census shows the highest number of farmers remaining on the land are in their 50s and 60s.
Those approaching retirement age are putting it off because the drought and subsequent income losses have eaten into their superannuation, or they have no superannuation.
Ms Dowling said she was lucky her father, Eric, gave his three children solid tertiary educations, which in her case, allowed her to return to the land, which she loves.
"I had a fantastic childhood with space and freedom to grow up, wrapped in nature," she said.
She graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra with an economics degree, is leasing land to add scale to the family farm and sees her future there, but a grim outlook for the district.
In 20 years time she believes smaller farms will be lifestyle blocks and farmers in their 60s will be leasing their land to earn income.
She works for the peak body Australian Wool Industry and was a member of the Rural Industries Young Advisory Group reporting to the Federal Minister for Agriculture until it was scrapped by the Rudd Government.
"It was a diverse group of young people in the rural industry," she said.
"We had people from all around Australia who were enthusiastic and passionate and were good thinkers."
It was another blow to young farmers, who were becoming more reluctant to follow their parents onto the land.
The Dowlings believe a crisis is fast approaching rural Australia, with too few farmers available to care for the land and maintain rural communities.
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