Weathering the storm: women on the frontlines of a drought

For the past few months, they've been working to ensure their farms stay profitable as devastating drought conditions continue to affect south-west Victoria.

Some operate separate businesses while still milking five times a week.

Some of them will be balancing the books for the farm and making sure their staff are paid.

More than likely all of them are carrying the emotional and mental load in their families while they're in the trenches with their husbands and partners.

For Bronwyn Lenehan, from Nullawarre North, the past 12 to 18 months have been the most challenging to date.

"We're fairly highly geared, we always run a mixer wagon every season regardless," she said.

"Normally we would have maize, grain and silage and we've got none of that left.

"We've still got maize - we're fortunate where we are because we have irrigation which helped our maize crop.

"Everything else has been bought in because it has long since run out.

"Now our hay supplier has run out of hay so we're trying to find all these other options to keep the rations up for the cows.

"We always have them set for a target and we always want to reach them."

She said the difficult conditions meant she and her husband Tim sometimes questioned if the decisions they were making were the right ones.

"You see them doubting themselves," she said.

"Both of us are in the trenches together trying to figure it out.

"I think what has happened this year is because the feed has run out, the question is what happens if it doesn't rain?

"It's not like it's rained and it'll be OK now, because if we don't get spring rain where is the feed going to come from for next year?"

Terang dairy farmer Anna Kenna said farmers were constantly adjusting and looking at the ways they do things on the farm.

But she said for some this would be the first time they've had to buy in hay.

"We're heavily stocked and we buy in a lot of our hay," she said.

"We've been as prepared as we could be."

She said her husband Ben was always confident in his decisions and resilient, but the drought had presented new challenges on the farm.

"It knocks their confidence and you feel for them," she said.

"It's the unknown now because it could get worse. I think a lot of farmers are holding their breath waiting to see what happens in spring.

"It's not even around the financial decisions it's a logistic decision."

Mrs Kenna does the book work and human resources for the business and said it was easy to feel quite helpless.

"I don't do a lot on the farm so you can feel a bit helpless," she said.

"I'm seeing how it is affecting Ben and the staff. It's not much fun feeding cows on concrete in troughs in the middle of winter when they should be on green pasture in the paddock, so it's depressing for everyone when it is day after day.

"We really feel for everyone in the entire district."

For Anne Rosolin, a dairy farmer from Glenfyne, there was a deliberate decision to keep the farm a small operation and be understocked for their acreage.

"That's meant we were able to put away enough fodder for an extra half a season at least, so we've still got silage from last year and we've still got hay from last year," she said.

"We've only needed to buy three loads of vetch to boost it up nutrition-wise.

"We're very lucky to have a spring-fed creek which has never in our knowledge of 70 years dried up, and it hasn't this year and this was the 12 months I thought if it was going to go dry, it would be this time.

"Otherwise it would have meant buying in water for the dairy and the house."

But Mrs Rosolin said if spring didn't bring a good harvest there would be nothing for the next year.

"I'm concerned about cows being in good condition for cycling and joining next year," she said.

"It's a real flow-on effect, it's not just this season.

"There's a lot of flow-on effects to come than what has happened so far.

"And we're very aware that farmers in the district have different levels of struggles."

Mrs Rosolin said despite the challenges the majority of women in rural communities were good at supporting each with other.

"Whether it's a new baby, a wedding or a funeral someone will be bringing food around for someone in need," she said.

"I would say 99 per cent of women on farms would have a supportive network where friends are just a phone call or coffee away and are asking: 'Are you OK?'"

The three women are part of a group of volunteers who organise an annual ladies lunch which attracts more than 300 women.

Tickets for the yearly event, which is supported by WestVic Dairy, sell out quickly with speakers ranging from TV and radio personality Myf Warhurst, comedian Fiona O'Loughlin and former Australian Diamonds Netball Captain Liz Ellis.

This year they will welcome Gold Logie winner and cancer research advocate Samuel Johnson as the guest speaker at tomorrow's event.

Ecklin South dairy farmer Belinda Doolan is also part of the committee and said the event was often a reminder of how "strong, wonderful and capable women in dairy are."

"Especially when we come together," she said.

"We're not just feeding the calves or just doing the books. We are valid and we are deserving.

"But we are also the most nurturing in the calf shed," she joked.

Mrs Doolan said she and her husband Sam didn't shield their children, aged eight to 15, from what was happening on the farm.

"We're including them," she said.

"And I tell them we can't do something because Dad is busy feeding cows all day."

National Centre for Farmer Health director Alison Kennedy said in difficult times women on farms took on the emotional load in ways that are different to how men took it on.

"I think what women often take on a caring load... an emotional caring load, so they feel a level of responsibility for everyone in the family in terms of that emotional load," she said.

She said it was often assumed that women were good at taking care of their mental health and asking for help when they were struggling but this was not always the case.

"My PHD looked at the impact of suicide and accidental death for farming families and it was actually quite clear that women also struggled to ask for help," she said.

"Yes, they may have more social connections, but that social connection didn't extend to actually asking for help within their network.

"Often they were very concerned about the wellbeing of others but not necessarily putting their hands up to help themselves and that's something we see across men and women in farming populations. It's not just a male trait, women are often similar.

"This is even reaching out to friends to actually say I'm really struggling and I need some help."

Dr Kennedy said the National Centre for Farmer Health was prevention-focused and worked to build capability in the farming population to be more prepared when challenging times came.

"From that very practical focus we know that if we've got people on the right track, then that helps prevent the risks of mental health in the future," she said.

"Also making sure people are physically well and using good safety practices, because we know that poor physical health or injuries can also impact your mental health."

She said government grants like Look Over the Farm Gate helped farming communities come together and it was also important for farmers to reach out to their professional networks that can provide good advice and strategies for managing the different challenges.

"Because you can't know everything yourself and there's often new evidence and developments coming through," she said.