Mental Health in Agriculture

Let me paint you a picture: February 2004, I am six years old and riding shotgun in my dad’s beat-up, work pickup. My blonde pigtails are flying around, and I’ve requested to listen to my favorite song at the time “She Got the Goldmine, I got the Shaft” by Jerry Reed as we bump along through a pasture looking over some newborn calves.

Dad counts the pairs and the yet-to-calve mamas and, as many six-year-olds do, I try to count as well. Dad realizes he’s missing one and all of a sudden, he turns the radio off and our fun is halted as we are now on the hunt for a soon-to-pop mother cow.

Dad rolls down the window and tells me to be as quiet as I can, he starts bellering and in the distance, we hear a beller back. We follow the noise and low and behold, tucked behind a curtain of trees, there stands a very pregnant cow in the middle of a mud hole. Dad said she was probably stuck in the mud for a few hours, maybe even overnight, and she would be okay so long as we helped her out. I vividly remember being able to tell from the mess that was a once un-touched mud hole, she had tried to get out on her own. But no matter how hard she tried and no matter how long she’d been trapped in that hole, there she sat: stuck, alone, and waiting for someone to come save her.

Remember the beginning of this story as you read the rest of my blog post today…

A few weeks ago, my husband and I walked into the Big Timber Evangelical Church in our Sunday best and were surprised to hear a lesson taught by a suicide prevention specialist visiting our church. 

Two days later, I sat through a key-note lecture from another suicide prevention specialist at Montana Farm Bureau Federation’s Annual Convention. 

Two days after convention, I thought I could escape the heaviness of another suicide conversation by watching my favorite mindless TV show: The Bachelorette. I was sadly mistaken, as a large chunk of that episode was centered around a contestant whose mother committed suicide and how it affected him.

Call it a coincidence, call it a God thing; no matter what you call it, it spooked me.

Since then, the topic of suicide and mental health has weighed heavy on my heart and been at the forefront of my mind. Specifically, how do the people around me feel about this? How are they effected by the “s” word? And furthermore, is it even talked about?

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) launched the #FarmStateOfMind initiative a few years ago, and when I read into it for the first time all I could think was: mental health and agriculture? Sure, okay — this is a cop out because they can’t come up with anything better to talk about.

But y’all, it’s not a cop out at all. The CDC reports the state of Montana leads the nation in suicide death rates.

Another interesting fact about Montana: according to AFBF, Montana is tied for third with Wyoming in the race for which state has the most people working in direct agricultural jobs relative to total direct food and agricultural jobs. The Big Sky State is beat out by South Dakota in second and North Dakota in first.

So we’re first in suicide death rates and third in ag related jobs — you can’t tell me that doesn’t correlate, especially with our ranching and farming neighbors to the South and East (Wyoming and South Dakota) also in the top 10 states with the largest suicide rates in the country.

It makes sense when you think about it: farmers and ranchers arguably have the most important jobs in the world — feeding and clothing billions of people. A lot of weight is on agriculturists’ shoulders, the pressure builds up.

On top of that, just from overhearing friends in agriculture speak about mental health, it’s not as easily discussed, recognized, or sometimes even taken seriously.

I can give you statistics and quote some psych books about why mental health is not discussed by farmers and ranchers as much as it is with “city folks,” but it all comes down to one word: pride.

Farmers and Ranchers are proud of what they do. They are strong, and they don’t want anyone to think they’re not. I truly cannot think of one farmer or rancher that I know who enjoys talking about how they’re doing emotionally, especially if it’s negative, simply because they don’t want to be viewed as “weak.”

I’m not saying having pride is a bad thing. Heck, I’m so proud of my friends and family for feeding the world that I write about it every single week in this column. Having pride in what you do is a good thing; it’s being too proud to accept help when you need it that’s a bad thing.

Now as you can tell, given everything I’ve just written and quoted, we have a bit of a problem on our hands: mental health is the issue, not talking about it is an even bigger issue, so how do we find a solution for both?

Thanks to the internet, we may have a solution. There are multiple online, free resources that can help if you’re having suicidal thoughts or struggling emotionally; and there’s just as many resources out there for those of you who want to help a friend or family member get over that mental hurdle. Visit https://www.fb.org/land/fsomfor more information on these matters.

I know, I’ve rambled on for multiple paragraphs now and to be honest, I don’t really know how to end this week’s blog post eloquently because they don’t really offer courses on how to write about suicide and mental health in less than 100-page research papers. I just hope that me writing this maybe got you thinking or better yet, talking. I guess my whole point here is this: it’s okay.

You may have a bad year financially. You may butt heads with your coworkers who, most of the time, are also members of your family. You may have to sell half your cows because of a drought. You may have a fire that burns up your crops for the year; or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a flood that drowns thousands of acres of crops. You WILL be faced with hardships, minor or major, you may feel down and out about it — but that’s okay, and I feel like we all need to hear that from time to time.

You don’t have to be happy-go-lucky Old McDonald every waking moment of everyday. You’re allowed to be upset, angry, depressed; and you’re allowed to keep that information private and hidden from your buddies if that’s what makes you feel comfortable. But bottling those feelings up and letting them eat you from the inside out does nothing for you, your family, your animals, your crops, or your land. If you have a problem, you need to get help.

On AFBF’s website, the quote “a healthy farm or ranch is nothing without a healthy you,” is written in big, green letters — and it’s true.

Your operation cannot flourish unless you chose to flourish. Sometimes, all picking yourself up by your bootstraps takes is a good look in the mirror and a “come on, you can do this” mumbled under your breath; other times, it may take a few sessions with a licensed medical professional. Regardless of how you chose to deal with mental struggles, as long as you deal with them and don’t ignore them, you’re on the right track.

I’ve talked a lot about helping yourself in the past few paragraphs, and the old saying “you can’t get help unless you ask for it” rings true. But just like the mama cow I mentioned at the beginning of this column, someone you love may have tried to dig themselves out of an emotional mud-hole. Maybe they’ve even stood there for hours on end and asked for your help but you weren’t listening, or better yet, you weren’t even there to listen, just like that mama cow bellering for someone or something to come help her out.

On that rainy February day in 2004, I remember asking my dad why the cow was in the mud hole in the first place.

“Ah, she just wondered off in there I guess,” he said as he put together a game plan in his mind.

I often wonder, what would’ve happened if we chose to just leave her there. I mean, she got herself in to that pit to begin with, she wondered off in there on her own, it was her choice, who says it was my Dad’s responsibility to dig a fat cow out of the mud?

He did it because that was his job, and the cow’s life depended on his help.

Much like a stuck cow, sometimes, people can’t help themselves. Just like my dad getting that cow out of the mud, it’s our job as friends and family to offer our loved ones whatever help we can give them when they’re emotionally stuck.

The hands that feed you need a helping hand themselves every now and then; and it’s our responsibility to reach out our hand and pull them out of whatever pit they’re stuck in.