Women shearing for Farmstrong
The Women and Wool shearing team presented a cheque to rural wellbeing programme Farmstrong this month for over $40,000.
Every Saturday morning from March to October 2019, a group of professional women — who had never shorn a sheep before — trained as shearers. They called themselves Women and Wool, to raise awareness about mental health in rural communities and raise money for Farmstrong.
Under the expert tuition of shearers Colin Watson-Paul and Pura Smith, they put in hours of hard work and a lot of personal sacrifice.
They competed against each other in a shearing display at the Royal Hawke’s Bay A&P Show on October 23 — accountant, dental therapist, optical technician, police officer and rural insurance manager.
Maureen Chaffey was overall winner with a memorial korowai from the family of the late Koro Mullins.
Harriet Partridge, Rural Insurance Manager who also competed, says the team’s goal was to get people talking and speaking out if they are struggling.
“I’m very passionate about the rural industry. I spend my working life insuring on-farm risks which are often only perceived as buildings, quad bikes and stock, but what matters most on a farm are the people and their families.
“People are the most valuable asset any farm has, but they’re often forgotten,” says Ms Partridge. “Isolation is a big issue for farmers. They might talk to a couple of people in a day, but it might be the ‘truckie’ picking up their stock or someone going past, and all that’s talked about is the weather.
“We need to do more as a community to encourage more in-depth conversation and knock down the barriers so it’s okay to talk about the stress and pressures people are facing. In today’s environment, there’s a lot of change impacting the rural community. But there’s no doubt that the farmer across the boundary fence has something on their mind too — so not every conversation has to be about the rain that hasn’t come yet, or come too often.”
Women and Wool chose to donate to Farmstrong because they liked its proactive, ‘top of the cliff’ approach to improving people’s wellbeing and resilience.
She says there are resources and tips for farmers to ‘lock in’ on the Farmstrong website.
Farmstrong ambassador Sam Whitelock says when his playing days end he’s looking forward to being part of this engaged community.
“I joined the Farmstrong team as their Ambassador as I’m passionate about helping people to see the importance of investing in themselves, and that emotional fitness is equally as important as physical fitness. For me it’s about creating small positive habits. If we introduce these into our daily lives then we reap the benefits over the long term,” he says. “Working on creating positive habits helps me cope with the ups and downs of sporting life. I know that they’ll also be incredibly useful when I am back farming. And that’s what Farmstrong’s all about, looking after the farm’s number one asset — you.”