The Irish Farmers Journal dairy meeting explored what’s in store for dairy farmers in 2015 and what challenges farmers will face as the post-quota era dawns. One factor hugely important in any farm business is how the farmer copes with stress and this was one of the topics under discussion last night as David Kerr, a Laois-based dairy farmer, opened up about his battle with depression.

David explained that six years ago, when his depression began, there were a lot of things happening on the farm. He reeled off a list which included deadlines for grants paperwork, a large number of cows going through a small milking parlour, an issue with a relative as regards health, and bad weather.

Depression

“The whole thing imploded. For six months I didn’t care if saw a cow let alone milked one," he said. "Effectively I was depressed. But you don’t realise what’s happening at the beginning. Small problems seemed big, and big problems seemed massive.”

David says he was losing sleep which made it difficult to work, and eventually he was ceasing to function.

David remembers one particular incident where they tubed cows for mastitis and even though a particular cow had the red marks on her he still put cups on her that evening and she went into the tank. “My mind wasn’t there.”

Action

But David went and did something about it.

“I just had to step away from the farm and go into care. We dried off the cows and shut down the farm.”

David readily admitted that the illness is embarrassing. “There’s no point in saying otherwise.” And on this note, he said: “it’s an advantage if you have private health insurance, even in this area.” This is because the last thing he wanted to do was go into a local facility and see people he recognised. He was much happier in a situation where he only met strangers.

David is better now but is this something he has to keep an eye on?

“My consultant told me I had to mind myself, and not put myself in the same situation I was in six years ago. I’m not going to give it a chance to reoccur.”

Advice

David’s advice to farmers is to look at what’s coming down the tracks. “It’s a perfect storm. We’re heading into low milk prices and there’s going to be big tax bills on farms. And this is all assuming we have normal weather. People have to look out for each other, all the triggers are there. Whatever about farming cows, your number one priority has to be your family and yourself," he said.

“Families need to be very, very careful about what’s coming down the tracks. It’s a tricky year coming up. Spouses and partners have to look out for their partners.”

If it happens, David’s advice is “fix it and wait to recover. Keep yourself together and come out the other side.”

Reflection

Looking back, David would do things differently on the farm. He had expanded over time and was trying to do the same thing with three or four times more stock. He has learned that it is important to delegate responsibility where you can. He also notes that he should have put more money into winter housing before building a parlour and that finance should be in place before starting a job.

“But it’s easy to look back in hindsight.”

The Farmers Journal’s Peter Young who was also speaking at the meeting last night, encouraged discussion groups to put this issue on their agenda coming into spring.

Today there will be dairy meetings in Slieve Russell and Breaffy House.