One's a bustling professional, identifying and treating sometimes-complex health conditions, earning qualifications only after many dedicated years of study, the other confined mostly to the cabin of a machine, sometimes from dawn to dusk, often into the early hours of the morning, week after week.
But for Jared Lawrence, originally from Singleton, NSW, but working in Horsham recently, the roles of doctor and driver of a header compliment each other perfectly.
Dr Lawrence, 25, spent harvest operating a CASE header on a farm 50km west of Horsham.
He's now in the process of moving to Dubbo, where he has accepted a position as a doctor at Dubbo Hospital for 2025–26.
After five years of study at the University of New England and eight years of funding his education and study by harvesting, Dr Lawrence is swapping his farm attire and boots for more professional wear – but what he has learned on the farm, and from chatting with farmers during harvest, is something he will always carry with him.
Dr Lawrence grew up on a beef cattle property.
He attended the local high school and, with his passion always being the care of people in remote and rural regions, he went on to study podiatry for a couple of years before transferring to medicine.
During his medical studies he completed placements with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and in Cunnamulla, Queensland.
Financially funding his studies himself, Dr Lawrence sought a harvest position each summer, adding the big hours allowed him to set himself up to get through the next university year.
"It's a demanding course so you don't have time really to work," Dr Lawrence said.
His adventures each harvest have seen Dr Lawrence take in the sights of many country towns, including from Morree and Wagga Wagga in NSW, all the way to Horsham and around Minyip, working for both farmers and contract harvesters.
"This year I was lucky enough to get offered a position on a family farm, 50km west of Horsham," Dr Lawrence said.
"They had two CASE headers and we covered around 4000 acres between the two headers.
"It was great to see somewhere new and meet new people."
Although harvest hours are long, Dr Lawrence said a wet start to the season and at the end bans on fire (and machine operation for harvesting) meant he got to do a bit of exploring of the Wimmera.
"I'm into running so I got to do a few runs around Horsham and see a few of the sights," Dr Lawrence said.
"I went to the Grampians and did a few bush walks so it was good to see the area, although most of the time I was in the header doing upwards of 90 hours a week this year."
Done with the books and with the header parked up for the foreseeable future, Dr Lawrence said he was looking forward to beginning his position in Dubbo.
"Dubbo is a good hospital to begin my career," he said.
"You have the large catchment area of the Central West, farmers out there, and a high Aboriginal population, so I think it will allow for an interesting mix of medicine.
"That's what I am passionate about and want to continue focusing on through my career: remote and rural medicine."
Although he'll miss harvest and the picturesque sunset, Dr Lawrence said he felt he was in good stead as a doctor after his experiences in farming.
"I always look forward to July and organising a job for harvest," he said.
"Medicine is so much focusing on the study and it can drain you down after studying all year, so it's nice to be able to sit in the header for 14 or 15 hours a day, allowing you to debrief.
"But I can see how it will equip me to be a better doctor in the future by working directly with the farmers, giving me a greater perspective of them.
"If you've walked a day in your patient's shoes, you can treat them better holistically and hopefully get a better result."
Particularly, Dr Lawrence said he was hoping his gained understanding of extreme events like droughts and floods would allow him to connect better with some of his farmer patients.
"I think that is important, that farmers have a doctor to go to where they can open up about things like that and it's a safe space," he said.
Dr Lawrence hasn't ruled out a return to the Wimmera – either on the header or as a medical professional.
"It's often joked about (jumping back on the header)," Dr Lawrence said.
"A lot of my ex bosses wanted me to do a weekend so if I get a day off I might jump on the header for a couple of hours to scratch that itch."
But Dr Lawrence could also return to the Wimmera as a doctor in the future.
"It's a different way of life compared to the agriculture we do in NSW – bigger paddocks and the area is beautiful," Dr Lawrence said.
"Picturesque sunsets, close to the Grampians, and it would be an awesome opportunity to be a GP in the area and extremely fullfilling being the GP to local farmers and being there permanently."
