Are you all depressed ?

[Lazy Sod]

I'm not depressed, I never have been, perhaps it's because I'm a realist, mind you I'm no longer farming having retired 4 years ago and glad of it.
However, this thread, started 3 hours ago is now up to 6 pages. I've just read the first 2, I can't keep up.

 

[Princess Pooper]

Oh and I've just realised I forgot to mention TB. You spend your life breeding the best cows you can to have them wiped out with TB - makes it near on impossible to plan for the future when you have that constant threat hanging over you, plus the worry of getting overstocked with calves, or (as we did this year) taking a big financial hit to sell them to an AFU.

 

[startinghandle]

I find I can cope better with big problems than small problems.. one such small problem happened yesterday which got to me but will pass by

 

[stewart]

The most unhappy farmers i know are usually the ones who have taken alot of debt on . Lifes alot less stressfull if your happy with your lot and not someone who wants to compete with the neighbours.

It's down to the individual and their ability to cope with debt, I've been debt free twice in my life, found it most boring, not depressing just boring, how do you get on without some degree of debt?

The most upbeat , forward thinking farmer I know almost certainly carries far more debt than any other I know

Usually are, debt is a great motivator.

 

[stewart]

Hate to be a party pooper on the jolly japes thread, but for the average size farmer ( 200 acres according to Google ) there ain't that much to be happy about ?

Straining hard...... but we do live in pleasant spots in the country though..

The average size farmer has lots to be happy about, generally they enjoy the work they do, live in some great locations and if the jobs done right make a reasonable living, whats not to like?

 

[PSQ]

Sorry if my OPINION offends you, but I don't apologize for having one


You sound tense? Defensive ? are you Ok ? ask yourself why respond as you just have ? If you didn't like what I posted why just not ignore it ? You're kind of proving my opinion here with that post !

Clive, you sound like you're on a massive cocaine bender.

Are you alright?

 

[Werzle]

It's down to the individual and their ability to cope with debt, I've been debt free twice in my life, found it most boring, not depressing just boring, how do you get on without some degree of debt?



Usually are, debt is a great motivator.

"Some debt" is different to debt that keeps people up at night or worries them to death everytime they have sickener. Depends also if you want to "get on" .

 

[Werzle]

Expecting the worse but being pleasantly surprised is the best outlook for any farmer

 

[delilah]

Clive, you sound like you're on a massive cocaine bender.

Are you alright?

Bottom's fallen out of the carbon market.

 

[wanton dwarf]

Clive, you sound like you're on a massive cocaine bender.

Are you alright?

More like he's been smoking a field of hemp.

 

[stewart]

"Some debt" is different to debt that keeps people up at night or worries them to death everytime they have sickener. Depends also if you want to "get on" .

if the debt is keeping you up at night then you should not be taking it on, as previously mentioned it is down to the individual and their ability to cope with debt, at whatever level.

 

[DRC]

My feeling is its down to weather. Or rather having to fight it constantly. If all the billions poured into the Met Office super computers and the hundreds of staff they employ actually produced weather forecasts that were accurate up to a week to tens days ahead then I reckon farmers would have a very different attitude to life.

It’s exactly this . Just look at this week, it’s been a pleasure to combine the barley in dry conditions . The weather can have a bigger impact on your mood than prices . Oh and bloody red tractor is grinding away at everyone’s mental health. It’s not just farmers though, I think society in general are so busy trying to keep up with what they perceive as needing and social media has a lot to answer for .
Dare I say it @Clive, I think even you contribute to some farmers negativity by constantly banging on about the mantra of ploughing is bad, direct drilling is good . My son often tells me to stay off that forum dad, it’s no good for You’re mental health . I think he’s probably right .

 

[R J]

This is a great way to relieve stress

 

[Good stuff]

I've been lucky enough to have a bit of a family holiday recently with lockdown restrictions ending and I've also spent a lot more time with none farming friends and reduced my time talking farming online a fair bit. After a period where that has been hard to do it's easy to forget just how important such breaks and time away are for mental health and wellbeing. Time to rest and reflect and enjoy life rather than simpy "get through" it

What has REALLY struck me in that time is that pretty much all farmers are utterly miserable, down / negative on pretty much everything, anything and everyone

This despite being one of the groups least affected by covid 19 and its restrictions, living in the relative freedom of the beautiful British countryside and enjoying some of the best prices we have seen in quite some time, even the weather hasn't been so terrible recently!


It's like when individuals are suffering from proper clinical depression, there is just nothing you can say or do that they will not find the problem with. This forum and Twitter overflow with negativity. I swear if every farmer in the UK was offered a £100k bonus tomorrow the news would be met with skepticism and many would find a way to say it was probably a bad thing !


I really think things have been so bad, for so long, for so many that most of this industry is damaged and has forgotten how to smile ?


Does UK ag need some collective counseling to snap us out of this spiral of depression ? how does an entire industry drag itself out of negativity ?

Maybe it all starts individually ? maybe ask yourself if you could benefit from some help ? Suicide rates in Farmings are shocking, is this why ? Is the problem maybe not everyone and everything else but maybe us ?

I strongly agree.

I've been lucky enough to have a bit of a family holiday recently with lockdown restrictions ending and I've also spent a lot more time with none farming friends and reduced my time talking farming online a fair bit. After a period where that has been hard to do it's easy to forget just how important such breaks and time away are for mental health and wellbeing. Time to rest and reflect and enjoy life rather than simpy "get through" it

What has REALLY struck me in that time is that pretty much all farmers are utterly miserable, down / negative on pretty much everything, anything and everyone

This despite being one of the groups least affected by covid 19 and its restrictions, living in the relative freedom of the beautiful British countryside and enjoying some of the best prices we have seen in quite some time, even the weather hasn't been so terrible recently!


It's like when individuals are suffering from proper clinical depression, there is just nothing you can say or do that they will not find the problem with. This forum and Twitter overflow with negativity. I swear if every farmer in the UK was offered a £100k bonus tomorrow the news would be met with skepticism and many would find a way to say it was probably a bad thing !


I really think things have been so bad, for so long, for so many that most of this industry is damaged and has forgotten how to smile ?


Does UK ag need some collective counseling to snap us out of this spiral of depression ? how does an entire industry drag itself out of negativity ?

Maybe it all starts individually ? maybe ask yourself if you could benefit from some help ? Suicide rates in Farmings are shocking, is this why ? Is the problem maybe not everyone and everything else but maybe us ?

I strongly agree.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I strongly agree.

I strongly agree.

That all farmers are missarable ?, you speak for yourself, most on here seem quite jolly ,

 

[Werzle]

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This is a great way to relieve stress

Sod that, last time i tried it i came up the beach on my hands and knees and very green around the gills

 

[DRC]

It's down to the individual and their ability to cope with debt, I've been debt free twice in my life, found it most boring, not depressing just boring, how do you get on without some degree of debt?



Usually are, debt is a great motivator.

I’m the opposite . Hated having debt and the worry of overdraft or loans . Love the fact I’m totally debt free .
had years of not being able to take much out of the business and the worry of keeping head above water .
guess we are all different

 

[4course]

I don’t know if depressed is the right word. That word crosses a line.

But I think frequently pee’d off would be right for many. And maybe more frequently than ever before.

We’ve sold our small hobby flock of sheep last week. To a great young bloke who is chuffed to have bought them, I’m sure he will take them forward very well, so it’s all good. But Christ, I have been really proper sad about it, like I’d found them all with their feet turned up.

I’ve decided it’s not just that they have gone, more that loads of things have been creeping up on me.

Because when I look at things I have three great kids doing well, a lovely wife (top 2% in fitness at her MOT at the surgery!!!), all my family and friends are well and I have a business that has sold out of fertiliser and has more lime ordered pre season than I’ve ever had.

What’s not to like?

well the only thing i can see not to like is that your lovely wife is in the top 2% of fitness cos if she was mine doubt i could catch her cos im not that fit .even though everything else was looking rosie, ho ho ... you are right and im with you that its not depression more a feeling of being pee d off with that which is spoiling the farming life but really what matters is in your last sentence which a lot of folk cant seem to grasp

 

[Good stuff]

That all farmers are missarable ?, you speak for yourself, most on here seem quite jolly ,

No not miserable, alot are depressed its fact. Look at suicide in agricultural, which is a indicator .

 

[stewart]

View attachment 975385
This is a great way to relieve stress

Especially if you catch a couple of these.