Four Key Pillars of Health & Wellness with Kane Briscoe from Farm Fit NZ

Taranaki dairy farmer Kane Briscoe has experienced the dark places that pressures and stress can take a person.

In 2013 he had just taken on a 50:50 sharemilking job and the milk pay out plummeted to $3.40kg/MS.

“It ended up being three years in a row of low pay outs and there was a lot of pressure and stress and I fell out of love with farming. I wanted to give up,” says Kane.

While Kane wasn’t clinically diagnosed, he believes he was probably depressed, and it was a rut he had to drag himself out of.

A change in lifestyle and a focus on nutrition and fitness were key ingredients to his recovery. It is also what drove him to establish Farm Fit, a social media community that between Facebook and Instagram now has more than 10,000 followers.

“I worked out what worked for me and then I thought I needed to be able to share that with others. It started with group fitness session and I expanded it on social media to reach more people. I am also a firm believer in turning pain into positives,” says Kane.

Kane is now 50:50 sharemilking 210 cows on 70 hectares in Taranaki and preparing for the busy calving season.

A qualified Personal Trainer, Kane says health and wellness is based on four key pillars and he compares it to a table with four legs. The pillars are making sure you get enough sleep, managing your stressors, good nutrition and moving your body.

As farmers head into calving season, it was a good time to start asking, ‘how is my table looking?’.

“We know a table can still stand with three legs but anything less than that and it will fall over,” says Kane.

And while spring was a busy time of year, he said it was something farmers needed to be aware of all year round.

“Get your sleep, eat your vegetables, drink water, manage and deal with your stressors and do the physical prep before spring. Proper preparation prevents poor performance,” says Kane.

“If you are fit at the start, it’s so much easier and you end up in a good space. Quite often people get through calving but break down once mating starts. You have to have the energy to get through.”

Feeding your body well, resting when you need rest and stretching at the end of a long day were all important factors.

“I’m all about keeping it simple and heating and eating food is great, but you need to make sure you are getting enough green leafy vegetables, alongside adequate protein and carbohydrates,” says Kane.

Often people overloaded on carbohydrates which left them feeling tired and lethargic. He had also started using electrolytes in his water for mental clarity and endurance.

“We do sweat a lot when it gets busier on the farm but because it’s still colder and we’re not drinking as much so electrolytes are a really good way of staying hydrated.”

Along with the physical aspects and managing good nutrition Kane says it is also important for farmers to continue to find the positives in every day, even when they are facing uphill challenges.

“It’s giving yourself a pat on the back when you save a cow and calf or when you treat a down cow. It might not seem like much but it’s taking a moment to understand what you have just done and how special that actually is,” says Kane.

Alongside managing sleep, nutrition and physical activity, having a good understanding of where you are at and taking a few moments each day to find the positives can make a world of difference during what can be a hectic time on the farm, he says.

Kane’s three tips to manage stress.

• Remember to breathe – deep breathing exercises or taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth helps to engage the parasympathetic clear-thinking brain instead of the stressed fight or flight mode brain.
• Get clear on a plan – write your worries or stressors down so you get them out of your head, and you can form a clear plan to manage them.
• Take action – once you have written your worries down and made a plan, start taking action on the things that need to be done. You will be surprised how much you will achieve.