Healthy communication can be defined in many ways, but in general, all these ways include three main themes: clarity, respect and promoting understanding. Making sure you are building healthy communication habits, especially surrounding topics like your mental health, doesn’t just happen. It is a skill that is learned by practice and planning.

Your legacy won’t be determined by your ability to keep your multigenerational dairy or pass a profitable operation to the next generation – but by the lives you touch. These are essential things to remember as we face an especially demanding season.

Farm stress: You can’t weigh it, you can’t test it, and you certainly can’t fix it with a wrench or baling twine. Yet, research continues to show that it directly impacts how farms function.

When I was dating my cowboy years ago, he worked for a man named Ray. Ray wore the signs of a hard cowboy life: twisted fingers from multiple broken bones, bowlegged, hunched over, skin as tough as leather.

How do you walk away to end an unpleasant or dangerous conversation when it is occurring in your head? One way to interrupt internal conversations is to take a break from your daily routine. Vacations can do wonders for morale, but respite can also be gleaned from shorter, more frequent intermissions to your daily life.

Our local farmers are under financial pressure, face unpredictable weather and market swings, and are under an overwhelming cultural expectation to “rub some dirt on it” or “cowboy up” and get through it regardless of how they feel. All of these things just compound the strain and lead to silence and, in some cases, tragedy.

Ultimately, eating isn’t about hitting an ideal – it’s about giving your brain and body what they need to handle life’s demands. Learn how to create a balanced diet to help optimize energy and health.

Feed. One of the most frequently analyzed pieces of the dairy business. But how about your own ration? If you’re like many in agriculture, your own nutrition falls far down the list – and the cows consume a more balanced diet than you.

Want to reduce your stress hormone levels, improve your cardiac function, reduce inflammation, improve sleep, slow down neurodegeneration and become more resilient? There’s a simple solution, backed by research, and it’s a practice you can do in the barn, office, truck or at home: practice gratitude.

Shorter days and quieter routines leave more space for isolation to creep in, making winter feel heavier than the wet snow on the end of your shovel. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way that I think can help farmers get through the winter months.