Geoff Taylor Dairy NZ

During the last six months, nearly 800 farmers across the country have had their health checked at a Health Pitstop – and the results make interesting reading.

The initiative is in the first year of a seven-year programme looking at the health and wellbeing of dairy farmers in New Zealand.

We know farmers seem to find it hard to prioritise their own health or find time for a periodic check up. So rather than getting farmers to go to the clinic, we took the clinic to the farmers through a number of industry events around the country.

DairyNZ and the New Zealand Institute of Rural Health set up Health Pitstops at events such as the Dairy Business Conference, DairyNZ Face-to-Face events, Mystery Creek Fieldays, the South Island Dairy Event, Dairy Women's Network days and the SMASH (smaller herds) events.

Basic physical health indicators were measured – such as the relationship between height and weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol – and information on stress, diet, exercise, and health and safety practices were discussed with each person.

Of the 794 farmers seen, 65.2 per cent were male and 91.3 per cent were New Zealand European.

Key findings:
• 67 per cent had no tetanus injections
• 79 per cent did not wear helmets on bikes
• 27.5 per cent experienced pain that interfered with work or sleep
• 9.6 per cent were smokers
• 6 per cent were not registered with a GP
• 82 per cent wore sunhats
• 65 per cent wore sunscreen
• Blood glucose levels (an indicator of potential to develop diabetes) averaged 6.2 mmol/litre (normal is 3.6 – 5.8 mmol/litre)
• 44 per cent had systolic blood pressure > 140 mmgHg (desirable level is 90-119 mmgHg)
• 48 per cent had cholesterol > 5 (desirable level 4)

Farmers are on-board with the sun-smart message, but the results show some serious health issues.

Blood pressure and cholesterol are a big concern, with almost half the farmers' tested being above the desirable levels. Not wearing helmets on motorbikes is another issue.

There are issues emerging around chronic stress and fatigue on farms. The next phase of the project involves working with AgResearch and Lincoln University to delve into that area and find ways of responding practically to provide more support for farmers.

We've made a start in finding out what the issues are – the challenge now is in working out where we can best help people so they can deal with these issues.