Five minutes with shearer and mental health advocate Carol Mudford

Graziher is proud to be partnering with AgriFutures Australia to bring you stories of the 2025 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award winners for each state and territory. Here, we’re speaking with our Issue 45 cover star, Carol Mudford, winner of the New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory award.

Hailing from Dubbo, New South Wales, Carol is a shearer, wool handler and registered nurse. The 39-year-old is also the founder of sHedway, an organisation that gets shearers, rouseabouts, wool classers and wool handlers talking about mental health.⁠ She answers our quick-fire questions below.

Just a heads-up: this article discusses suicide. If you — or someone you know — needs help, Lifeline is available 24/7. The number to call is 13 11 14.  

Do you have a daily ritual?
I’m on the road a lot, so my routine is not very regular. But I always try to start my day by running with my dog, Dusty, and having a coffee.

What’s one lesson you had to learn the hard way?
I think all lessons are hard, or maybe I’m not good at learning them easily. Shearing has taught me so much; the hard, physical work taught me that my body is stronger and fitter when my mind is stronger and fitter, and vice versa. It pays to look after yourself and to try and keep the balance as much as possible.

Who has had the greatest influence on you?
When I was in high school, I went on a trip to Mittagundi Outdoor Education Centre in Glen Valley, Victoria, and the leaders there inspired me to grow up, have a go, spend more time in the bush and go on adventures with great people. I spent a lot of time with that amazing community over the years, and I worked there as a leader later on. I still carry on the values — respect, responsibility, safety and teamwork — in everything I do.

Is there something we could all do better to support someone during a difficult time?
This is the most important question for all of us, and what we are hoping to answer with sHedway. It starts with making it normal to talk about struggles — everyone has them, and we deal with them better when we face them and have support around us. We need to have tough conversations with kindness and, especially, learn to recognise when someone, or ourself, might be at risk of suicide.

We need to know how to talk about it and where to go for expert help [for crisis or thoughts of suicide, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (or text 0477 131114). For free mental health counselling for rural/blue collar Aussies call or text TIACS on 0488 846 988 (www.tiacs.org)]. Hard times are harder when we feel alone or like we are a burden on others, and we can all make a difference by reaching out to the people around us to let them know we care.

What are your top three strategies for achieving your goals?
Choose them, work at them and get help from people around you that know more than you do.

Name a woman in ag who has inspired you and tell us why.
Nicki Guttler, the current world record holder for shearing; [she shore] 450 merino lambs in eight hours. Nicki inspires so many of us in the shearing sheds, not just for being an incredible shearer, but also for being friendly and supportive, especially to learner shearers. On her record day, in December last year, we took a photo with all the women in the crowd that shear; they turned up to support Nicki because she has supported us. There was 13 of us there, which is pretty amazing for a typically male-dominated industry.

Your favourite way to spend five minutes…
Two and a catch [a shearing reference: shear two and catch the third before the bell].

The 2025 AgriFutures Australia Rural Women’s Award national winner and runner-up will be announced at Parliament House on Tuesday, October 28. Applications for the 2026 awards open in September. To find out more, head to agrifutures.com.au.

For more on Carol, listen to this week’s ‘Life on the Land’ podcast episode (below) or grab a copy of the current issue of ‘Graziher’.