The Country 26/07/24: Paul Walker talks to Jamie Mackay

A Bay of Plenty dairy farmer and Farmstrong champion talks about his tips for getting through the winter slog, calving etc. Paul farms in the Bay of Plenty on a low lying farm prone to flooding. He’s trained his body and brain to recognise the signs of stress and have more constructive/helpful thoughts rather than just dwelling on the difficulties.  Paul now features in Farmstrong resources and appears in videos promoting Farmstrong with our ambassador Sam Whitelock. He’s one of a growing number of farmers and growers helping us shift the dial in this area. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Monthly here on the country, we catch up with the
farm strong farmer and they tell us their story about
how they get through the challenges of life on the farm,
especially for the top addock. Today it's the turn of
Tapooky dairy farmer Paul Walker. And Paul, you're very lucky
your farm's only four kilometers away from that wonderful Tapookey
golf course. And I know you're a fan of getting

(00:21):
off farm. Do you ever get off farm and play
that wonderful golf course?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I do, Jamie, not as much as I would like to,
but I certainly try and get down there once a
week over the quieter times of the year. Not right
out carving. I'm an enforced break for about three weeks
to a month, but definitely the rest of the year.
I love getting down there and having a yeck and.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Now you're right down on the flat there effectively at
Tapuke or just above sea level. It makes for you know,
and the Bay of Plenty gets plenty of everything, including sunshine,
but it also gets plenty of rain and wet winters
are a bit of a mental challenge for you.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, definitely, given the events we've sort of suffered over
the cyclone period with the East Coast, it definitely gives
you a little bit of PTSD when you hear rain
on the roof or when you see the forecast coming
that there'll be sort of an inch plus of rain
on the way. It certainly pulls at some strings, have

(01:30):
some memories that were before and yeah, it's not nice,
but hopefully you know you have the talk to get through.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
How did your mental health handle cyclone, Gabrielle, Because I
know you've got a hell of a lot of rain
then as well. Admittedly not in the middle of winter,
but it still must have been a real challenge.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, a lot. But we felt for the guys down
the East Cape because it was a lot worse than us.
But it did poso heap of challenges here and in
the way we really got through was just attacking it really,
really slowly, day by day and really pairing it right
back to going out in the morning and just getting

(02:12):
to HQ and taking sucking and a few deep breaths
before you start the day. There's nothing worse than rushing
out the front door and rushing here and there and
not getting much achieved. So we found it good to
just meet staff on the tank loop, sucking a few
deep ones and then hit the day after that.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now we talked about getting off farmers and getting a
mental break. It's so important for farmers, and I know
that you're a keen golfer when you get the opportunity.
But you've also got a local gym set up on
one of the farms.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. There's been a few farmers
engage in that and we've had a bit of a
location change in that, and the most recent method we've
used is plunging in one of the local rivers. Actually,
Jamie as opposed to throwing some weights around and doing
but exercise, particularly over the dry period. A few of

(03:08):
us met up at six eighty in the morning and
had a five minute swimming the local river and that
set us up beautifully for the day to be honest, well,
good on. You know it's not the light of the
rivers you've got down south. But are you certainly cold
enough to wake up there? For sure?

Speaker 1 (03:26):
No, you began to do that in Southland at the
moment where I grew up. It's cold enough in the
middle of summer. We're focusing on farmers who are farm
strong ambassadors effectively, you're one of them. I know you've
had Big Sam White lock on the farm in recent times,
but how has farm Strong changed your life? Because I'm
reading your story, you were in a bit of a hole.
You weren't handling it as well as you could have.

(03:48):
How's it changed your life?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh? Massively, massively changed my life. It's just given me
the tools to enjoy the industry more and enjoying my
family more and enjoy what to do more. When I
first started farming without Farmstrong, there wasn't much to turn
to in that regard. So when I did discover farm
Strong and the resources that are offered, it gave me

(04:11):
a way to really reset the mind and connect with
the community all those five ways to well being and
set me up really to handle those tough times.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
They've got some excellent material on their website farmstrong dot
co dot nz and especially go and have a look
at those five ways of well being as you alluded to,
and you've got some great mentors and ambassadors there, including
Sam Whitelocke, the ambassador for Farmstrong. Hey, Paul Walker, I
hope the next few weeks for carving go well for
you on your Topooky dairy farm, and you get back

(04:44):
and you play some golf on that wonderful golf course
four k's from your house. You're living the dream, Paul.
You just don't realize it all the time.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, no, exactly. I look forward down a game with you.
Jamie