'I am just as much a girly girl as I am a farmer':TikTok star Anna Downey lost 5 stone and swapped her day job for full-time farming

On Tiktok account annadowney6 she also describes herself as “Not your typical farmer” and a 2027 bride alluding to her upcoming wedding to fiancé Daniel Magill.

“When I was 16-years-old I got my tractor licence, obviously I was driving before that (not on the roads), but as soon as I could get drawing silage I was ready for it,” she said.

“Then I got my car licence six weeks after I turned 17-years-old. And about a month after that I got my trailer licence,” she added.

“And this year I hope to get my lorry licence too, because I am not busy enough,” she joked.

After finishing school Anna did a degree in agriculture at the Ulster University.

“I had been on the road as an animal nutritionist, but I could not handle both the job and the farm,’ she said. “It was tough with every morning and every evening and Saturday’s were chaos.

“It was so hard to handle both.

“I gained a lot of weight because I was so under pressure and did not have time to eat properly,” she added.

“My top weight was 95.7 kg – 15 stone – and I am only 5ft 2ins tall.

"So I’ve lost 5 stone through eating a basic calorie deficit where instead of eating a big chocolate bar I would take a Freddo.

"I also love fruit, especially kiwi. And I swapped out bread for bagels,” said Anna.

After putting on weight through ‘stress eating’ Anna started a strict dieting regime in August 2024.

And instead of taking the more conventional dieting route through a slimming class, Anna started to train to do a Hyrox.

A Hyrox is a tough competition that combines eight kilometres of running and eight functional workout stations, alternating between running and functional exercises.

“At that stage when I took on the challenge, I couldn’t have run the length of myself,” said Anna. “But the training for the Hyrox changed the whole thing.

“There was no quitting, I was calorie counting and when I came home to farm as well that saw me doing 20,000 steps on average a day.

“Now I would say that I do around 30,000 steps a day between working out and then running at night.

“Everybody I go to the gym with is always going on about increasing their steps, well not me.

“I never thought in a million years that I would get this far, but I just started getting really into it again and I am definitely getting there,” she added.

“The Hyrox pushes me to the limit. It is something else.

“It is not easy but I want to do a solo one this year and maybe a half marathon. It is unbelievable whenever you put your mind to it you can do it. I have been prone to depression and was on antidepressants but I don’t need them now.”

Anna is “one of seven sisters” and says “I could not have picked one of them to be my bridesmaid, so they are all my bridesmaids”.

“We are very close but we do row and don’t always go as far as sharing many clothes and much makeup, but they will be my bridesmaids for my wedding next year.”

The 23-year-old farmer says her greatest stress recently has come from not receiving anything from a planning application for a new house for her and fiance Dan Magill.

“My wedding is in April 2027 – we put in a planning application last year thinking we were on the ball and there is still nothing through,” she said.

“Our architect said he has never seen such a backlog.

"We applied for a house on a 90-acre farm where there is no dwelling.

"This has been one of the most stressful parts of my life at the minute.”

Anna says that the opportunities she has been offered through her social media accounts are “amazing”.

“The opportunities I have been offered through TikTok are unreal,” said Anna.

“I think people see girls who farm as being masculine and maybe act like men. That is not the case, I love farming but I also love clothes, make-up and glam.

"I am just as much a girly girl as I am a farmer,” she added.

“It is also class that beauty companies are coming to me now asking me to try hair extensions, makeup, skincare.

"Usually the people you see trying things out are beautified all the time, not working in another job during the week.

“The clothes I tried on the other day in Banbridge were beautiful.

"I got asked by labels after I lost weight, but I don’t have much confidence in myself after losing the weight.

“The first time I noticed that I was slim was when I was trying on wedding dresses.

“So I am going to try on some more at boutiques who invited me along. You have to pay £25 now to book a shop to try on wedding dresses.”