Mental health is still an unspoken topic for many people in the agricultural industry. But Sallie Jones, co-founder of milk company Gippsland Jersey, has been advocating for change. The 2022 ’Lay of the Land’ calendar is distributed via milk tankers to 1000 dairy farms in the hope it will serve as a conversation starter and provide a resource for any farmer struggling with their mental health.
Three farmers based in Cardinia Shire have been highlighted on a calendar to promote the importance of mental health in the agricultural industry.
Produced by ’Connect Well East Gippsland and Wellington’ and ’Gippsland Jersey’, the 2022 ’Lay of the Land’ calendar includes stories of 12 farmers and the hardships they have faced; financial stress, relationship breakdown, the impact of drought and fire and mental health.
Gippsland Jersey co-founder Sallie Jones said the first calendar was created in 2016 to honour her late father, who was a dairy farmer and manufacturer.
“I believe there is power in storytelling because it has the ability to not only impact lives but possibly save one,” she said.
“I know my father would have loved to have read these types of stories.”
The calendar is about smashing the stereotype of the silent farmer, those who grit their teeth and just get on with the job, Sallie said.
“It is incredibly hard to pick up the phone and ask for help,” she said.
“It’s great that there are services such as Head2Help who offer virtual support to anyone who’s struggling. I know from talking to many farmers that tractor cabins in the back paddock make for very accommodating consulting rooms.”
Sallie said farmers have endured the challenges of droughts, bushfires and Covid-19 over past year two years.
“The courage of the farmers who have shared their stories in the 2022 Lay of the Land calendar is indicative of the strength and resilience that resonates across all communities in Gippsland,” she said.
“We know that support that comes from the grassroots is powerful … and we have a better chance of improving access to mental health and wellbeing supports and resources, especially for those who have experienced the trauma of natural disaster, when we work together.”
Calendars are free and can be ordered online at the Gippsland Jersey website. The free calendar also includes contact information to various mental health services.
Below are snapshots of the Cardinia Shire farmers featured in the 2022 calendar.
Yannathan: Evan Campbell and Kellie Price
Evan and Kellie lease a 460 acre dairy farm on the plains of Yannathan.
Despite growing up on a dairy farm, as a teenager Evan never imagined he would become a farmer later in life.
However, now as an invested dairy operator, he wouldn’t have it any other way, and they both enjoy the lifestyle that farming offers.
After graduating university and working in the oil industry in the Middle East for five years, Evan developed more of an appreciation for the way he was raised. He now sees the beauty of life on the land.
“We love the lifestyle farming provides but know it can be isolating and stressful,“ he said.
“When we meet other farmers, we try to be empathetic to what they might be going through.“
Despite elements that are out of a farmers’ control, like the weather and milk prices, he has risen to the challenge and prides himself on continual improvement.
But there were days that Evan felt isolated and lonely on the farm, he called these days ’dark patches’.
Evan says these dark patches have caused him to be aware of managing his emotional and mental health.
When Kellie moved on to the farm with him in 2021, Evan found himself less lonely and says that he is now in the best place he has ever been.
Kellie has been through personal challenges over the past few years herself, after significant life events that left her feeling despondent.
At the time she was the farm manager of 500 cows, by herself and raising two young children as a single mother.
She looks back now and realises she made it through due to the encouragement she received from her network of people and Evan.
Evan and Kellie believe that the stigma attached to mental health conversations is slowly eroding.
They have become more aware of the need to be mindful of not only their own emotions, but the emotional state of others too.
Lang Lang: Jake Seuren
At 21 years old, Jake has been through many trials and challenges, also triumphs.
Currently working on the farm he was raised on, Jake has battled through drought, milk price crashes and a salmonella outbreak in the cattle that meant he and his father, Michael had to either bury or sell off most of their stock.
Jake also watched his parents go through a divorce in his teenage years that caused Michael to spiral into depression.
Jake says that his mum walked out on the family, leaving the business in such a hefty deficit that Michael had to sell some of his machinery and stock to continue making lease payments.
Jake has managed to gain a Cert IV in Agriculture and go on to not only gain his diploma but receive a nomination for best trainee in the top three in Victoria.
He has started up a farm contracting business (he says it took him a long time to convince the lender since he was only 18 at the time) and, with the help of family too, saved enough money to recently purchase two Fendt tractors, new mowers, a combo bailer and 50 stud jersey cows.
Jake acknowledges that these achievements haven’t come without stress.
He says he always worries ‘will I get contracting work, will it rain, will the cows get sick?’.
He manages his mental health by spending time with his girlfriend Tayla, hiking to waterfalls, kayaking, spending time with mates and contributing funds to the local football and cricket clubs.
Kooweerup: Jo and Dave Algie
Dave and Jo live in Kooweerup on the dairy farm Jo was raised on.
They are advocates for promoting mental health awareness.
“Mental health, like cancer, doesn’t choose who it effects. The thing about mental health is, even though it’s unseen, it’s still an illness,“ Jo said.
A unique way that Jo and Dave engage with people to initiate mental health conversations, is in the form their beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog, Lexi.
Jo has been a paramedic for 13 years, currently serving as Drouin Ambulance Branch’s team manager.
She was initially involved with a pilot program in Ambulance Victoria (AV) with a Peer Support Dog Program.
Lexi has an incredible penchant for singling out people in need.
Over the summer of 2019/20 Jo took Lexi as part of the AV Peer Support Dog program and visited employees, first responders and their families and other members of the community in East Gippsland that had been heavily impacted by the Black Summer bushfires.
Lexi would follow certain people around in the hall where everyone was gathered and sit beside them.
Eventually, they would kneel down, cuddle her, and cry.
Unknown to Jo at the time, every single person who Lexi had singled out that day had lost their homes to the fires.
Jo says Lexi sits and soaks up their tears, she never pulls away, just lets them hug her as long as is needed.
Jo was honoured for her work across AV with the Ambulance Service Medal, a Commonwealth honour under the Order of Australia, in 2021.
Dave and Jo are aware that dairy farming can be isolating, so a few years ago they implemented a robotic dairy system and now they have more time to enjoy getting away from the farm, even if only for a few hours for dinner.
They take great joy from the many animals they have around them, their work in the health industry, and in milk production.
Their hope is that as conversations around mental health evolve things will get better for farmers and those suffering in silence
