case-study-dairy-farmer

Case Study: Dairy Farmer

How to get the most from farming without letting it destroy your life: Part 4

In parts 1, 2, and 3 of this article, I have looked at the challenges faced by farmers today, how these challenges can cause problems in your life, and finally identified a step-by-step process to help you bring about a solution.

So how do you apply this solution into a real life situation?  

Case Study 1: Dairy farmer

I recently spoke with Seamus and Una who run a dairy farm in the midlands.  They are both in their late forties.  They have three teenage children, two boys in secondary school and one girl in third level.  

They rear their own replacements as well as a small group of cattle they take to beef at approximately two and a half years of age.  

While they are carrying significant debt due to farm development over recent years, their household income is satisfactory and they do not have any real financial worries.   However, they do have problems.  

The big issue for Seamus and Una is that they work extremely long hours. All three children play sport but Seamus rarely gets to see them play. Una’s evenings are often taken up looking after the children such as taking them to hurling or camogie matches.  This gives her an opportunity to meet with other parents.  However, Seamus rarely finishes the farm work before 8pm, even at the weekend.  There is always work to be done, whether it is physical work on the farm or completing paperwork.  He worries a lot about meeting quality standards and all cross-compliance issues and seems to be regularly falling behind on requirements.  A lot of talk in recent years about making changes in dairy farming to prevent damage to the environment also worries Seamus.  While the children do help out, their parents do not wish to take the children away from their studies.  By the time they get their work finished in the evening they are simply too tired for family activities.  Seamus says it is difficult to find the opportunity to spend quality time with Una or the children. Seamus often misses important family events and rarely engages in leisure activity.  He now finds himself losing interest and is worried about the long-term future of the farm.  

Solving the problem

A conscious decision to find a solution is essential.  Otherwise, the problems are likely to escalate for Seamus, Una and family.  They need to stop, reflect and plan a step-by-step approach. 

Step 1. It is important to clarify what the problem is.  The farm is impacting almost every area of Seamus and Una’s life.

  • They acknowledge they spend too much time working on the farm, especially Seamus.  
  • They fear this is having an impact on their relationship.
  • While Seamus feels he is in good health he rarely sees a doctor and has no time for recreation.  
  • Seamus regrets having rarely seen his children play their respective sports.  
  • The stress of all of this is bothering Seamus more and more recently.  

Most of the areas are interrelated.  By taking a few small steps, improvements could be made in a number of areas of life for Seamus and Una. 

To get started Seamus might prioritise finding a way to make small reductions in his workload and make time available to spend with Una and the family. 

They dream of finishing work at a reasonable time in the evening and having the opportunity to spend more quality time together.  

Step 2. Seamus and Una must break this down into manageable goals. What are the specific actions they can take to move in the right direction?  

Step 3. They then need to identify options.  For example, are there options for reducing the workload?  In the short term they might hire a relief milker for a few evenings per week.  Are there some jobs that Seamus could switch from evenings to the mornings or a slack time of the day?  Longer term, he might consider dropping an unprofitable farm enterprise or outsource some of the work.  

Step 4. Once options are chosen a plan of action must be put in place to ensure these happen.  

Step 5. As this plan is implemented and the goals are achieved one by one, they will gradually see improvements in their situation.  They can then start to work on another problem.  Over time, they need to target several areas of life.  The aim should be to live a balanced life, so that Seamus and his family can reap the rewards.  

The key to success is clarifying the problem and identifying the steps to bring about a solution.  But you must take the first step.  Further details available on www.freshpastures.ie  

In the next and final part of this series, I will look at one part time drystock farmer to see how the process above might be used to help him find a solution.

what-is -the-solution-in-farming

What is the solution?

How to get the most from farming without letting it destroy your life: Part 3

So far I have highlighted some of the key challenges faced by farmers today.  I have then gone on to discuss how these challenges can impact your life in so many ways. Here in Part 3, I want to begin to look at how you might go about finding a solution so that you can regain control, create a vision for your future and start to live the life you truly want. 

What is the solution?

The answer to this question remains very much in your hands.  You may need assistance in deciding what to do but it is important to consider your options.  I suggest five steps to help you plan your journey to solving your problems.  

To begin, you must get clear on what the challenges are and what are the problems this is causing in your life.  To follow the advice of Dr. Stephen Covey in his famous book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” you should “Begin with the End in Mind”.  As you pinpoint the problem, you then can start visualizing the outcome you want as a solution to that problem.  This solution is the end result.

As you get clear about the problem and what the end result or solution will look like, you need to draw up a list of goals that will help you achieve your desired result.  These goals are a series of small manageable steps you need to take on your journey.  

Next, you must identify options.  These are the options available to you to enable you to achieve your goals.  

Once you examine the options and choose which route to go, next you need to put an action plan in place.  

Figure 1. Steps to solving your problem

As this plan is implemented and your goals are achieved one by one, you will gradually see some improvements in your situation.  You can then move on to solving another problem.  But first, he must decide to take some action. 

Having examined the challenges you face and discussed how these can have a very negative impact on many areas of your life, in part 3 of this article I have just identified a step-by-step process you might use to help bring about a solution. To help understand this process, in the remainder of this article, I will examine two different farmers to see how they might apply this process in their situations.  I will look at one full-time dairy farmer and one part-time drystock farmer.  I will begin in Part 4 with the full-time dairy farmer.

is-farming-ruling-your-life

Is Farming Ruling Your Life

How to get the most from farming without letting it destroy your life: Part 2

In Part 1 of our newsletter, I examined some of the many challenges faced by farmers today. These challenges can lead to all sorts of problems and stress.  

Here in Part 2, I want to look at how these challenges are negatively impacting your life. Before searching for a solution to any problem it is important to be clear what exactly the problem is. It is only then that you can examine how you might go about solving the problem so that you can start to live life to your true potential.   

Whatever your situation you need to identify exactly how these problems are impacting your life.  It is very likely they are not just affecting your farming.  They are probably impacting almost every area of your life.  It is worth spending some time examining these so that you can then decide if something needs to be done to rectify the situation.   Otherwise, you will continue to allow these farming problems to rule your life.  

To bring balance into your life it is important to examine all areas so that you can identify the areas that need attention.  Various experts worldwide identify these areas of our lives under different domains or different headings.  I believe the following seven key areas more or less captures every aspect.  If something is troubling you or causing you stress or anxiety, it is likely that you will be able to allocate it to at least one of these seven areas.  Can you examine your life under these headings?

Areas to look at

  1. Social/Family/Friends
  2. Farming/Career/Education
  3. Money/Finances
  4. Health/Recreation
  5. Routine Responsibilities 
  6. Contribution/Community/Voluntary
  7. Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Wellbeing

In considering these areas, you might consider if you are giving that area enough attention, too much attention, or not addressing it at all.  At least this will help you pinpoint areas you need to address one way or another. Once you have clarified exactly what the problem areas are, you can then go in search for a solution. This is exactly what we will examine in Part 3 of this series.

Finally, I will look closer at this with a couple of farmer cases later in this article.

Challenges of Farming

Challenges of Farming

How to get the most from farming without letting it destroy your life: Part 1

Farming can be a very stressful occupation.   You as a farmer and your family face many challenges on a daily basis.  These challenges can leave you feeling very stressed and unhappy.

In this article, I examine the challenges posed in farming today.  I will then look at your life and encourage you to examine how these farming challenges are impacting your life and how they can lead to numerous problems for you and the people around you.  I also look at how you can deal with this stress, create a vision for your future and set goals that will help you achieve that vision.  This will enable you to create the space so that you can solve your problems and enjoy life.  So, I ask how might you as a farmer improve your circumstances when faced with the challenges that farming brings.

Challenges of Farming

A complex occupation

Farming is much more complex today than it was forty or fifty years ago.  The Teagasc National Farm Survey 2019 Sustainability Report points out that world-wide farming faces the challenge of producing food for a growing population, while minimising the environmental impacts of food production especially in terms of climate change, water quality and biodiversity loss.

Irish farmers also face worries about BREXIT.  Some farmers feel under pressure to meet cross compliance requirements and when dealing with Government agencies. Animal welfare and the concern about animal disease on the farm such as the presence of TB (tuberculosis) has become a major worry for many Irish farmers.

Due the nature of their work and where they live, isolation and loneliness can exacerbate the problems.  Hours of work can be very long when full time farming or due to off farm employment.  Many farmers are concerned about what the future holds for the farm with no obvious successor to take over.  COVID-19 may well have made the situation worse.

Dr. Harry Barry, expert on mental health and emotional resilience, claims that the vast majority of stress and anxiety in everyday life is due to a mixture of life crises rather than any serious mental illness.  Yet, if these issues are not tackled, they can lead to all sorts of problems including anxiety and depression.

Weather

While there is very little we can do about the weather, it can be a cause of concern for farmers.  Extreme weather events appear to be common in recent years.  Repeated reports of severe flooding, storm force winds or even hurricanes appear to be on the increase.  Whether these are the result of climate change or not they can leave the most resilient of farmers in a stressed-out state.

Environment

The impact of farming on the environment is an ever-increasing concern and worry for farmers.  The production of greenhouse gas emissions from farm animals and the resulting impact on climate change is frequently being highlighted in the media.  On the one hand there is an increasing need for food production to feed a growing world population.  Farmers and scientists must find a way to produce this food while minimising the negative impact on the environment.

Financial worries

Both Teagasc and IFAC figures repeatedly show there are serious issues around poor income and financial worries on many farms throughout Ireland.  Teagasc define farm-households as fitting into one of three categories with approximately one third of all farms fitting into each category:

  • Economically viable: This is where the Family Farm Income is sufficient to pay family labour at a basic wage plus a small return on the capital invested in assets such as machinery and livestock.  This group is dominated by Dairy farms plus tillage farms with a small number of large-scale cattle and sheep farms.
  • Sustainable: This is where income from the farm on its own is insufficient to make the household economically viable.  However, there is off-farm income within the household to make it economically sustainable. This group has farms from all enterprises but is dominated by cattle and sheep farms.
  • Vulnerable:  This is where the household is operating a non-viable farm business and neither the farmer or spouse works off-farm.  Like the sustainable group, this group includes farms from a range of enterprises but is also dominated by cattle and sheep farms.

At first glance, the immediate concern is for those in the vulnerable category due to their low household income.  Without doubt, these are of concern.  Shortage of money can cause all sorts of problems.  However, all may not be well in the other two categories.

Viable and sustainable farms are still affected by the issues discussed above and may even be affected to a greater extent by some of the issues.  I will look at this later as it applies to specific farmers.  But for now, we will accept there are many issues that cause stress and you need to address these sooner rather than later.

In the next part, I will discuss how farming may be having a negative effect on your life and we will look at some solutions that you can use to overcome the challenges.