Guest Blog

If you follow along with any of my social media profiles, or you have read my past HERd management columns, you might know 2019 was a difficult year for me. I have been battling mild anxiety and depression while managing our farm with my husband.

“My husband came in at lunch and told me the statistics on farmer suicide. He told me how hopeless he felt. I was scared to let him go back to the field.”

“I am always so angry. I yell at the kids and throw things in the milkhouse. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“He asked for help. The nurses laughed at him. He cried and asked if I thought he was crazy.”

Last year, a U.S. National Public Radio broadcast inspired me to write about women’s leadership roles and what I consider the virtues of being an unsafe woman.

Being a goal-oriented person has never been a “thing” I would normally associate myself with. This was something I acquired recently in my life. I am a full-time farmer, a mother and a part-time gelato maker.

In June 2017, we embarked on what was going to be a roller-coaster ride for the next 16 months. It was that summer we went on our first tour of robotic milking barns. We had started on the journey to modernize our dairy. I want to share with you some of the things we learned.

As dairy farmers, I know we wear many hats, not just on the farm but off the farm as well. So why is it every time someone asks us to do something, we immediately volunteer?