Grumpy old men in flat caps Josie Thomas and Poppy Lewis are clearly not.

Dispelling that archetypal image of the British farmer isn’t what the sisters set out to do when they started posting photographs and videos on Instagram of themselves at work on their Pembrokeshire dairy farm.

But with sistersinwellies they have done so by default while raising the profile of farming among their 1,400 followers.

“People seem to like to see women in farming,’’ suggests Josie, who at 26 is two years older than Poppy.

Engaging with the public through social media is a far cry from the days when their great-grandfather was the first generation of the Lewis family to farm at Clerkenhill, a 101-hectare holding on the outskirts of Haverfordwest, which he rented from the Slebech Estate.

His son, Benjamin, later bought the farm and the sisters are the fourth generation of the Lewis’ family to farm there, in partnership with their parents, Richard and Dawn, who have another two daughters – Daisy, who teaches children on the autism spectrum, and Heather, who helps to run the farm park diversification at Clerkenhill.

Josie and Poppy have been farming full time for six years – Josie after studying graphic art and design and working on farms in New Zealand and Australia while Poppy also travelled after finishing her A-levels.

The business milks 200 British Friesians, supplying milk on a liquid contract to Mark Hunter for sale under the Totally Welsh brand.

It is grazed grass which forms the basis of the farming system, with cows housed for only four months.

Cows are strip grazed in a paddock system, with fences moved to give a fresh break after every milking.

The herd is run on a split block calving system with an even balance of cows calving in the spring and the autumn, to give a level milk profile.

The sisters share most of the routine work and do all their own AI.

In the summer months, when there is land work to be done, Poppy helps Richard with all the machine handling including ploughing, buck raking and feeding while Josie takes the lead on herd health.

The farm park has been a hugely successful diversification with visitor numbers boosted this year as more people have holidayed in the UK.

The installation of the milking parlour provided an opportunity to further enhance the visitor experience – a viewing platform was built to allow people to watch the cows being milked.

Richard often leads the tours, using the opportunity to educate the public about dairy farming. He doesn’t dodge the more tricky subjects.

“We explain why we take calves off their mothers in the first 12 hours, how it is less stressful than allowing a bond to form.’’

He sees the question and answer sessions as a good opportunity to educate the public about the way milk is produced.

Richard is proud of all his daughters and is delighted that Josie and Poppy have joined him and Dawn on the farm.

“Dawn is a great role model for the girls, someone who has worked on the farm all her life and has never been afraid to do the power harrowing or cart the silage.

“Before I was introduced to Dawn a mutual friend told me that she milked cows and could drive a harvester. That was enough for me, I asked her out on a date!’’

It was Richard and Dawn who encourage their daughters to create an Instagram account after seeing other young farmers promoting farming through social media.

It can be a big commitment on busy days but they enjoy connecting with others.

“We like to keep it light and fun, if you go too deep into farming you lose people but if it is too light-hearted you lose farmers, we try to achieve a balance,’’ says Poppy.

They are not obsessed with getting followers, they just want to show people what they do and that farming can be fun.

“Farming is what you make of it,’’ says Josie. “We want to show people how much we care for our animals, the love that goes into it.’’