The Farmer's Dilemma - To work or not to work

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By Dwain Duxson dwaind@farmtender.com.au

The Farmer's Dilemma - To work or not to work - I was reading this article from a young Canadian Farmer who wrote about his struggles with work/life balance on his Farm and how he gets distracted in his non-Farm time. 

It's a guilty complex that many, or should I say, most Farmers suffer from. I know I suffered from it when I was Farming and still suffer from "not being present" with our current business. When we are not working, many of us think we should be. It doesn't help that Farmer's are running their own businesses, so the buck stops with them, and they feel that. 

He said social media doesn't help. At any one time, there are numerous Farmers posting videos or images on Twitter of stuff they are doing on the Farm. You look at that during your non-Farm time, and he said it gives him a "rush of anxiety". Once again, guilt. When Covid hit, and the Saturday sporting pursuits were called off, many a Farmer who would attend the local Footy, Cricket or Tennis would replace that time with some Sheep work of Spraying a paddock or two. All of a sudden, when the Footy's back on, they are not there, they are now doing something on the Farm on Saturday.

As we wrote a few days ago, a lot of it comes back to worrying about what people think. Who's got the perfect Farm, nobody? Who's the perfect Farmer? No one. Guilt is a terrible thing to suffer from. Try your best to fix it. 

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