The lane up to the high moor is now hedged by white blossom of blackthorn; and verges around the moor farm are resplendent with what Wordsworth described as “… a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils;”. Curlews float and their looping calls fill the early morning. Lapwings dance and tumble in the sky. What could be nicer and more uplifting.

On the way back from my sunrise walk I passed the farmer and his dog crouched next to a dry-stone wall by the body of a huddled ewe. The sheep was clearly in distress, and other sheep looked on in concern. I stopped to ask what the problem was “she’s broken her leg, I’ll have to walk back down to the farm and bring up the wagon so I can bring her down to the barn and fix her up as best I can.” I offered to help as much as I could.

The farmer explained that there were some people walking dogs that passed by yesterday and the dogs weren’t on leads. Someone from the village told him that they’d seen the dogs running joyously around the fields where the flock of sheep were. He explained “the sheep take fright and try to climb the walls, they catch their legs and fall, it looks like that’s how this one’s come by her break”. He nodded towards a nearby section of the dry-stone wall that had tumbled, the inner part freshly exposed. 

A little while later he came back up to the high fields to collect the sheep and take her to the barn. There’s not much can be done. He’ll look after her the best he can. The vets bill will be expensive and hill farmers have little money. Farmers care for their sheep. The wall will need mending too.

My friend the farmer is a wise and steady man with a lovely family. They supplement their income from the sheep and a few cattle with bed and breakfast visitors who come to enjoy the beautiful open and exhilarating landscape. People come to stay with them to regain their mental health by walking in the fresh air and to ‘get away from it all’.

But there is a crisis of mental health amongst farmers. Long lonely hours, financial stress, uncertain weather and a lack of awareness of how to reach out for help all contribute to the epidemic. One person’s moorland natural paradise could be another person’s prison of overwork, isolation and debt.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/mental-health-biggest-issue-affecting-farmers-in-2023

It’s hard to tell what another person might be thinking or suffering when you see them, no matter how beautiful their workplace or wonderful their job might appear to be. A moorland farmer rarely gives away his feelings. It’s the same for many people who are trying their best to keep steady whilst doing their jobs.

How do you cope with mental health at work, both your own feelings and those of your work colleagues?

Rowan on the moor

A Moodscope member