Farmers are notoriously slow to consult healthcare professionals and tend to have a high level of tolerance for problems such as aches and pains.

“When it comes to their animals, there is a tendency to try everything before consulting the vet and farmers tend to apply the same principles to their own healthcare,” said Dr Brian Hunter, a GP in Cullybackey and a part-time farmer.

He said that where conditions are diagnosed early, they can be treated and managed.

He warned that modern farming is not the same healthy lifestyle that it once was, with less physical lifting, quads replacing the need for walking, power steering on tractors, warm tractor cabs, etc.

Dangers

There are also dangers from working with modern livestock and machinery, and on top of normal health issues, farmers are more prone to skin cancer, the effects of organophosphates and problems caused by dust or damp straw/hay (farmer’s lung).

In recent years, Dr Hunter has seen increased levels of depression among people living in rural areas.

He said that there were many factors affecting the mental well-being of farmers including the weather, isolation and also bureaucracy.

In many other jobs, particularly the public sector, a worker off sick gets six months full pay and six months half pay.

When a farmer is unwell, it puts economic pressures on the farm business and adds to stress, maintained the Cullybackey GP.