A new initiative from a dairy farmer in Lower Mount Walker has “gone gangbusters”.
Unfortunately, the initiative has nothing to do with the production of milk but everything to do with the vicissitudes of life on the land.
Because Ross Blanch runs a hotline for farmers who need help. And last year, the line ran hot.
“Loneliness is a big one,” Mr Blanch said of the issues he discusses with other farmers who drop him a line.
“And the pandemic made it worse. Loneliness and isolation and just a lot more mental health issues generally.”
But while it is bad now for some, there are always big picture issues that drive farmers to the brink.
In 2019 it was drought – and that was what inspired Mr Blanch to set up his hotline in the first place.
“When the drought got real bad there I was at a cattle sale talkin’ to some farmers and one bloke told me he was livin’ on toast and baked beans,” he said.
“I went to my [Lifeline] state manager and I said, ‘I wonder what we could do to support some of these fellas?”
After 28 years as a volunteer with the Ipswich Lifeline Crisis Support centre, an estimated 5000 conversations and “bucket loads” or training, Mr Blanch was no stranger to lending a sympathetic ear and guiding those in need to support services.
There are others who know how to talk to those in need, but Mr Blanch knew that farmers would be best served by one of their own.
“Farmers know farmers,” he said.
“If farmers are talking to someone from town, they just haven’t got it.”
“They might mean well, but they haven’t got it.”
“I’ve been through a few droughts, the milk crisis where we were not getting paid … I’ve been through the mill and farmers know I’ve been through the mill with them.”
And so Farmer to Lifeline Farmer was born. But it was not destined to end when the drought broke the next year.
“The main thing was farmers couldn’t afford to feed their cattle so they had to sell ‘em for nothing,” he said of the drought years.
“Then when the rain came in January 2020, the prices tripled overnight and they couldn’t buy cattle back.”
“Some sat back, waiting for the price to drop, but it just got a lot dearer.”
“So there are farmers out there struggling to buy stock.”
As well as big picture issues, Mr Blanch also helps farmers deal with more personal misfortune.
“One fella, his health let him down,” Mr Blanch said.
“He couldn’t farm anymore and the anxiety drove him nuts – he’d never been stopped in his life before.”
“Between the psychologist and myself, we helped him get back to the man he was.”
As well as referring farmers to mental health professionals, Mr Blanch said there was a suite of other services he could help hook them up with.
“I refer them on to rural financial counsellors, Drought Angels, government resilience agencies … there’s a lot of support services out there that a lot of farmers don’t know how to look for,” he said.
“I know ‘em all.”
Mr Blanch recently won the ‘You’re an Inspiration’ category at Uniting Care’s 2021 Full Circle and Reconciliation Award for his more than two decades of volunteer service.
Farmers who need support can call Ross Blanch on 0412 724 879.
