Blog: Jock Gibson - When it all piles up - and how I’m getting through it

By Jock Gibson, Trustee, Farmstrong Scotland

The smile is genuine, but I'll be honest with you - it's been a tough few months here on our Moray farm.

We calved down 92 cows this year and somewhere in the middle of it, we hit a really difficult spell. Calvings not going right, losses we couldn't explain, the knacker wagon feeling like it was a permanent fixture at the end of the road. 

I know I'm not alone in that. Many of you will be reading this nodding, maybe you've just come through something similar, or you're in the middle of it right now. That run where everything seems to go wrong at once, where you start to wonder if it's you, if you're doing something wrong, if you've just been making a mess of it. That feeling of losing control when farming already asks so much of us.

What I've learned, and I'm still learning, is how to get myself through those stressful spells.

In the moment, I just deal with what's in front of me. It's afterwards that it catches up, and I stop and think, why is this happening? And for me, that's the point where it matters that I speak about things, whether it’s talking to family or picking up the phone to a friend, or a fellow farmer or crofter. My wife Fiona is brilliant at helping me rationalise things. Sometimes just saying it out loud to someone who gets it is enough to start shifting it.

Information is power too. When the vet comes out for the fourth time that week and tells you that they're seeing this everywhere, or that there are plenty other farms that also just get a ‘bad run’ - that context matters. It doesn't fix anything, but it gives me something to hold onto. It's a reminder that a string of bad luck isn't a reflection of how we're farming.

I've also found that having something practical to do helps enormously. This year I finally got round to creating a farm manual - something I'd seen in use during my Nuffield travels and always thought was a great idea. It's an annualised diary of everything that needs to happen month by month, a live document that helps with compliance, standardises how we work, and most importantly acts as a communication tool for everyone involved in the farm, whether that's the team, the vet or other advisors. But it's the annual plan that I find most valuable. It builds in that forward thinking - and when things do go wrong, we've got a place to reflect on what we'd do differently and make sure it's there for next year. That shift from helplessness to action, even a small action, makes a real difference to how I feel.

And that's really what it comes down to - having the tools and the people around you to help pick you up and get you through times like these. April is Stress Awareness Month and if things are piling up like they have been for me, Farmstrong Scotland has some useful resources on stress – top tips for managing it, recognising burnout, and signs of unhealthy stress.

Give the resources a read even if you don’t feel stressed right now. Having the right tools to hand before you need them is half the battle.