Seeing healthy animals ready for market confined to the farm, growing fat, eating into feed stocks and profit margins, is greatly frustrating for farmers, he says. But for a man who's calved cows and brought them up only to see them slaughtered, that must be soul-destroying. Needing support The Reverend David Ursell, a clergyman farmer from North Devon, says the travel restrictions imposed to halt the disease's spread have hamstrung existing support networks. Mr Ursell co-ordinated a scheme whereby local solicitors, land agents and the like offered free advice and help for worried farmers at home. These visits have now stopped.
Isolation is the major problem.
Now there is a real sense of confinement too, with farmers unable or unwilling to leave their property. We're also ringing local church bells at noon and telling farmers to listen out for them and to know people are praying for them as they ring. Lifeline The telephone remains a lifeline for many rural people, with support groups, such as the Rural Stress Information Service, reporting a 10-fold increase in the number of calls in the past fortnight. However, in times of trouble the contact number of a helpline is often the last thing on a farmer's mind, says chartered psychologist John Pooley, himself once a farmer and an expert on rural stress. You can have the support mechanisms in place, but during a crisis a farmer may batten down the hatches and cut themselves off.