Pippy - Farmer, Willala NSW

Farmer mental health represents my father and four women who have supported him along the way... While we call Dad, the “farmer”, it is the women who are also the farmers. Two of us girls worked on cattle stations in the Northern Territory, and when we came home, we showed Dad a thing or two. My mother and sister are veterinarians and they call the shots regarding biosecurity, animal welfare and nutrition. While Dad taught us everything he knew, we have all grown up and learned new things. It was his daughter who showed him how to plier strain a fence. It is his daughter who preg tests and performs surgeries. It is his daughter who is called upon to move the “flightier” cattle. It is his daughter who he calls to take over from him on the header. It is his wife who does everything; she is the co- business owner, the decision maker, the shoulder to cry on, and she is not known as “the farmer’s wife”… She is a farmer.