Mycoplasma bovis: Former Southland Rural Support Trust chair reflects on helping farmers cope

Dairy farmer John Kennedy reflects on his time with the Southland Rural Support Trust after stepping down as a trustee. Photo / Shawn McAvinue

Central Southland dairy farmer John Kennedy finds it hard to talk about a tough period of his life.

He was the Southland Rural Support Trust chairman when cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis arrived in the district.

“It was really traumatic for me,” he said, reflecting on the time.

Since the disease was discovered in New Zealand in 2017, more than 180,000 cattle have been culled from nearly 300 farms.

He had been part of the trust since its inception in Southland in 2008 including five years as chairman.

“It was 10 times more traumatic for the farmers involved.”

The disease never entered any of the herds on his four neighbouring dairy farms on the Oreti Plains, near Winton.

However, providing support to fellow farmers during the tough time and the feelings of hopelessness had him sinking towards depression for the first time in his life.

“There was a little bit you could do but it felt like shadowboxing.”

During that time, the Ministry for Primary Industries gave the trust lists of the Southland farmers potentially impacted by the disease.

The ministry had to contact the farmers before the trust was allowed to reach out.

He dreaded the day the ministry issued a new list, as he always knew many of the people on them.

After a year of leading the response in Southland, he decided, “Enough was enough” and stepped back to protect his own mental health.

“I got to a point where I rang up Cathie [current trust chairwoman Cathie Cotter] and said I can’t do this anymore.”

Talking to Southern Rural Life in his lounge about the time brought all the feelings back.

“It was the toughest time in my life ... and I don’t want to think about it anymore,” he said.

After the disease was detected in New Zealand, the system to respond to it was “cumbersome and unworldly”.

He expected responses to future outbreaks to run more smoothly and be more effective by removing unnecessary levels of bureaucracy to allow more decision-making at a local level, rather than them having to be signed off in Wellington.

“That made a lot of extra work and expense.”

He had been a dairy farmer for about 50 years.

He moved to Southland in 1992 after dairy farming south of Auckland.

In Southland, he joined the trust after responding to an advertisement in a newspaper calling for people to form a group to help people when an adverse event hit the region.

“I thought I’d go and see what it was all about.”

About seven people showed up and everyone got a position on the trust.

The trustees helped people during a tough time, despite having no official training on how to provide support.

“I don’t think it takes a lot of skill to be empathetic.”

The trust “cut its teeth” during the snowstorm in 2010, he said.

A big change since he started at the trust was people talking openly about the importance of looking after their mental health and “keeping yourself right”.

Trust members referred people to other service providers, such as counsellors and vets, to help “facilitate a solution”.

“We are conjugates to other organisations.”

He praised the stakeholders he had worked with through the trust, such as stock firms, Civil Defence and Federated Farmers.

If the trust ever needed him, he had made himself available as a volunteer.

It had been a pleasure to be part of an effective organisation for more than 15 years, he said.

“It’s been really enjoyable.”