The 25-year-old is the sheep operations manager at Annandale - a mixed operation farm about 24 kilometres from Ross.

Ms How starts the mammoth task of getting the flock where it needs to go each day, be it shearing or moving paddocks, by 7.30 in the morning.

Though it is not a job she can do alone.

READ MORE: How city's cafes react to isolation weekend

Ms How is joined by her trusty sidekick Kit, her three-year-old female kelpie, and a team of five other dogs.

"Kit's my main dog because she's a good all-rounder," she said.

"I wouldn't be able to do my job without the dogs. It's just me and my team of dogs on the sheep side of things."

Typically any working dog will be classified into two categories - a yard dog or a paddock dog. While Kit is not the only exception to the rule, Ms How said she is one of the better ones.

So good, in fact, Ms How and Kit are competing against 11 other owner and dog teams from across Australia and New Zealand.

Ms How previously competed in the Cobber Working Dog Challenge in 2018 when Kit was an ineffectual eight-week-old puppy good for only companionship as she sat on the bike as her canine pals did all the work.

Now Kit is the star of the show.

Ms How and Kit are the only all-female team competing in the competition and Ms How will wear it as a rightful badge of honour.

She has been working in agriculture for almost a decade now, and over that time she has seen women change the face of the industry.

"When I first started women were really underrepresented in the industry. There wasn't many of us and the ones that were here didn't normally last too long," she said.

"It had the stigma back then that it wasn't the workplace for women, but it's changing now and becoming a lot better.

"Everyone's realising that we're more accepted in the industry and we're here to stay."

In the 2021 working dog challenge, Ms How is one of only two female handlers in the whole competition and she is confident she and Kit can take the challenge right up to the others.

She said, though, she will be representing women in the industry and having a crack, regardless of the result.

"It's about representation. Just getting in, having a go and trying to inspire the younger generation that farming is something you can go into from school if you want to," Ms How said.

Kit herself is ready to go. She will be wearing a GPS tracker on her collar which will help to decide if she is, indeed, the hardest working dog.

READ MORE: Man charged with firearms offences in Launceston CBD

In prior iterations of the competition, dogs have been clocked as having moved 50 kilometres each day.

In 2021 the competition runs from August 16 to September 5 - meaning there is a chance Kit could notch up over 1000 kilometres of work.

While kelpies in the past have fetched as much as $35,000 once trained, Ms How said Kit was able to get it all done after being purchased for just $100.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: