DAIRY

The Ultimate Gift: Dairy Farmer Becomes Lifesaving Hero by Donating Both His Liver and Kidney

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:58:23 GMT

When one thinks of a dairy farmer, the image often conjured is that of a hardworking individual, dedicated to the care of their cattle and land. Brian Forrest, who leads with a kind-hearted and giving spirit at his family farm, Maple Ridge Dairy near Stratford, Wisconsin, epitomizes this image and so much more.

Forrest works tirelessly alongside his wife, Elaine, and their five children, tending to roughly 2,000 cows and farming 4,000 acres. Although farming is undeniably a demanding job, Forrest thrives on the mixture of hard work and familial teamwork it entails.

Leadership Beyond Farming
Away from the hustle and bustle of farming, Forrest dedicates his time in boardrooms and volunteering on various committees and organizations. His contributions as a leader have not gone unnoticed as he was awarded the Dean Strauss Leadership Award at the Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) Annual Meeting earlier this year.

“Ask anyone who knows Brian and they’ll tell you he’d give you the shirt off his back without blinking, as his track record clearly shows,” Shelly Mayer, Executive Director of PDP, shares. “I’ve had the opportunity to work directly with Brian for several years and I can say firsthand that he is one of the most thoughtful, compassionate people one could ever hope to work with.”

Maple Ridge has earned recognition on state and national levels, including Focus on Energy’s 2022 Energy Efficiency Excellence Award and platinum-level recognition in 2020 from the National Mastitis Council for the dairy’s consistently low Somatic Cell Count. Forrest was also named a 2021 Wisconsin Agriculturist Master Agriculturist. Forrest serves as Board Chair of Dairy’s Foundation and also served on the PDP board of directors for six years, acting as treasurer for three years. He’s an FFA alumnus and regularly supports the FFA.

A Selfless Donor
Forrest’s generosity extends beyond his time and expertise. In July 2019, he served as a living liver donor for his cousin Richard Gillette, who was battling end-stage liver disease.

“Richard is one of five brothers who I had always looked up to when I was a kid,” Forrest fondly recalls. “When they were young, all five of them came up from Illinois during the summer to help out on my dad’s farm in Stratford.”

Two of the five brothers died in their 50s - and Forrest didn’t want to see a third Gillette brother die before his time. And, as sick as Richard was in the spring of 2019, he was unlikely to receive a new liver from a deceased donor in time to save his life. Too many patients were ahead of him on the transplant list - and most of them were even sicker. Forrest offered to see if he could be a match.

“I thought maybe I could be a donor. I’m older, but I have O-negative blood.” After discussing it with his wife and giving it careful thought, he decided to go through with the donation.

A football fan at heart, Forrest knows that when it’s game day, rivalries don’t matter. Or least this was the case for the fourth-generation dairy farmer.

“He’s a Bears fan. I’m a Packer fan. But we were united the morning that we both met with our incredible surgeons,” Forrest remembers back to the day of live transplant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical Hospital. We joked together right before the surgery that after he gets part of my liver, he very well may come out a Packers fan! He beamingly shares that his cousin recovered well. “It was a tough road for a while, but it was all worthwhile.”

Four years later, Forrest donated a kidney to an anonymous recipient, demonstrating his willingness to help those in need yet again.

The kidney he donated went to a person in Virginia. The surgeon showed Forrest a picture of his kidney functioning perfectly inside the recipient the evening after his surgery.

“It was pink inside the recipient and doing its job,” Forrest shared emotionally. “It is all so remarkable.”

Both surgeries required others to pick up the ‘slack’ from Forrest back at the dairy. He proudly shares that he is lucky to have such a great village that could help out while he took 6-8 weeks to fully recover from both surgeries.

“I would do this again in a heartbeat,” he shares. “There is no price tag for giving someone life and the whole experience brought my family closer together.”

A Farmer’s Faith
Forrest says the feeling of helping someone else is hard to describe but incredibly fulfilling.

“I know God is driving the way,” he says. “I’m not sure what direction we are heading, but I know he is in the driver’s seat and I’m in the backseat.”

When it comes to farming, Forrest—like most farmers—believes in a better tomorrow. Before his surgeries, Forrest had to undergo a mental health evaluation, ensuring he was prepared for all eventualities, even the possibility of the surgery not resulting in success.

“I go back to the highs and lows of farming. With milk prices and Mother Nature, you must be okay with not being in control,” he says.

Forrest’s mindset of focusing on what can go right instead of what could go wrong is just his natural way of thinking. This positive attitude has helped foster a healthy and positive culture at Maple Ridge Dairy, where 34 full-time employees work in harmony.

“Our mission and values are communicated, and we all work towards the same goal,” he shares.

In an industry full of challenges and unpredictability, this Wisconsin dairy farmer stands out not just for his farming practices but for his exemplary character and unwavering optimism. Whether on the farm, in the operating room, or during acts of heroism, Forrest truly embodies a spirit of selflessness and resilience.

“I try to make more deposits than withdrawals,” he says. “There are good days and bad days, but we really need to focus on the good. My hopes are that others who hear my story also consider organ donation. UW Madison is an incredible resource and I’d be happy to talk to anyone whose heart has tugged on them regarding organ donation. I have no regrets.”

Leap of Faith As Farmer Miraculously Escapes Burning Chopper

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:45:28 GMT

Burn in fire or die by electrocution? Stranded on the catwalk of a corn chopper engulfed in flames and wrapped in the deafening hum of 140,000 volts, J.P. Koop leaped into a crackling halo of current. Crashing into a smoking row of freshly cut stalks on super-heated ground, Koop’s body went to jelly on impact, electricity surging through his limbs. On hands and knees, the Michigan farmer made the crawl of his life—a bid to escape a deathtrap.

His incredible survival has no room for chance, Koop insists. Five hours prior, his crew sought protection: “We prayed for safety. We asked God to watch over us with full expectation that He’d meet our genuine need. That’s exactly what happened and I’m here to bear witness because there is no other explanation.”

Walk The Wire

On a Thursday morning, Sept. 12, 2024, Lucky 7 Dairy, helmed by Koop, approached harvest kickoff: corn was ready. Featuring 3,000 acres of light, fertile soil and 2,000 Holsteins set in the hilly topography of upper Michigan’s Missaukee County, Lucky 7 prepared for an ideal day of fieldwork: bright and breezy, low humidity, and a high expected in the upper 70s.

Just before tucking into a homemade breakfast, roughly 14 members of the harvest team—truck and tractor operators—gathered beside the Lucky 7 shop for a safety meeting and final emphasis on awareness. At the conclusion, Koop asked neighboring farmer Mike Bosscher to lead a safety prayer.

At the touch of chute to power line, 140,000 volts welded metal on metal and ignited a hail of sparks.

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

“We bowed our heads and Mike prayed in a sincere manner for God’s hand to be over all of us,” Koop recalls. “We asked in full expectation and we meant every word.”

A relative newcomer (six years) to the dairy industry after a lifetime spent around machinery as a long-hauling veteran and a 130-truck business carrying produce between California and Michigan, Koop had never experienced a major accident. He was about to walk a wire.

Ride Lightning

In work boots and Wranglers, Koop, 58, climbed the ladder of a forage harvester crowned by a distinctive, arched chute, and drove toward 80 acres of green corn to start the field opening process and cut enough space to ensure loading trucks had room to receive silage.

On its northern side, the field was rimmed by a main road and parallel power line suspended roughly 14’ high. “Every field is different,” Koop says, “but most everyone deals with frequent power poles and power lines, whether on the side or even in the middle of a field. You’ve got to stay alert to exactly where they’re at, but on this day, I reacted too late.”

“There was no rotating or getting away,” describes Koop. “I spun around and saw the chute sparking, and the heat just made it stick to the wire even more.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Rolling at 5 miles per hour, Koop completed an outer pass of the field, and began a second revolution, with the power line directly to his left, and operator Denny Kamphouse driving a tractor and wagon to his right.

Koop’s two-way crackled: “Hey, you’re getting close to that line,” Kamphouse warned.

At roughly 16’ in the air alongside the low-lying power line, Koop’s chute bobbed like a crow’s nest. He tried to adjust. Too late.

Time to ride lightning.

Volts or Flames?

Supernova. At the touch of chute to power line, 140,000 volts welded metal on metal and ignited a hail of sparks, blowing the chute’s hydraulic cylinder and igniting the chopper tires.

“I should have died,” emphasizes Koop. “Cracking. Popping. Booming. Buzzing. The chopper was gone, burnt up.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

“There was no rotating or getting away. I spun around and saw the chute sparking, and the heat just made it stick to the wire even more.”

Koop shut off the chopper and took stock, his ears drowning under an overwhelming hum of surging electricity.

Seconds. Flashes. Family. Decisions. Calculations. Questions. Risk a step onto the steel catwalk? Dare to remain in the cab? Descend the ladder? Wait for the power line to short out?

As the back tires blew and the chopper rocked, Koop opened the cab door to his left and scrambled onto the platform, enveloped by smoke and the heat of expanding flames. “I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but I knew once those back rims were touching the ground, I’d be electrocuted. Think. Think. Think. Seconds were going by as I stood there and tried to gather my options. It was a major power line so it had no breaker and wasn’t going out. Also, I couldn’t go down the steps because sparks were flying out of them.”

Remains of a flames—Koop’s burnt-out YETI cup.

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Looking down, Koop stared at cut corn rows belching smoke from pulsing current. Looking behind, Koop eyeballed a silage harvester in meltdown. Volts to the front; flames to the back.

Koop made his choice. He didn’t want to burn.

Dead Man Walking

In a frozen moment beyond the incessant buzzing and mounting heat, Koop found clarity. “Images were flashing across my mind and heart, but all of a sudden, in the middle of all that chaos, I hung on one clear thought. If I died, and no matter how I died, I knew where I was going because Jesus saved me from my sins and had given me the grace to stand before God.”

“That split second recognition came in a freeze frame that settled everything and took away my fear. I’ll jump. I’ll push out as far as my body will let me and maybe get far enough away from the current’s ripple effect to survive.”

“I’m blessed with my wife, Suzanne, who took such good care of me,” says Koop. “I have seven wonderful kids. I have a story to tell about how God protected me.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Koop climbed on the handrail, balanced on the metal bar almost 10’ high, bent his legs, and pushed off with the kick of every muscle fiber in his 58-year-old body.

“I hit the ground, fell forward, and felt my body getting electrified. I couldn’t stand up or control my legs, but I could move on 100% adrenaline and I started crawling, trying to get out of the ripple effect before it killed me. It was such a weird sensation to feel the current blowing through me. I could feel it especially in my hands and knees, but it wasn’t painful.”

Roughly 20’ later, Koop crawled out of the ripples to safety. He stood up, ran around the chopper to get away from the power lines, and collapsed in an adjacent ditch, from where he was carried by Lucky 7 crew members to a neighbor’s yard.

No wounds or burns from electricity or flames. Miraculous, Koop insists. “I should have died. Cracking. Popping. Booming. Buzzing. The chopper was gone, burnt up. All the liquids superheated. All the aluminum melted and pooled on the ground. The cab exploded and blew glass everywhere. Tires gone. Steel was the only thing left behind.”

With a heart rate pumping off the charts and a heel sore from the jump impact, Koop was taken to a hospital. “The power company guys wanted to meet me before we left. They said they’d never seen anyone walk away from this kind of accident.”

“We prayed for safety,” says Koop. “We asked God to watch over us with full expectation that He’d meet our genuine need.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Four hours after arriving, Koop was released from the hospital. He used the next day to rest and ease muscles sore from intense flexing during voltage conductivity. Two days after tapping 140,000 volts, he was back in a chopper (Thursday to Saturday).

Lucky 7 notwithstanding, Koop does not believe in luck. “There was nothing random about my survival. If chance was involved, I’d be a dead man right now.”

The Witness

Koop’s near-death accident has elevated safety concerns to the top rung of daily farm activity. “See something, speak up, and question it, regardless of your role. We all feel the fragility of life on a farm, and my mistake has increased our awareness to the highest level where it has to stay. I can say it simply, ‘I now know where all power lines are at all times.’”

Koop attributes his survival to Providence: “I’m here to bear witness because there is no other explanation.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Why was Koop spared?

“I only know I’m supposed to bear witness. For the rest of my life, I’ll use this to talk about God’s Providence,” he adds. “I’m blessed with my wife, Suzanne, who took such good care of me. I have seven wonderful kids. I have a story to tell about how God protected me.”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

American Gothic: Farm Couple Nailed In Massive $9M Crop Insurance Fraud

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

The Arrowhead Whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

Senator Urges USDA to Take Action on Nation’s Milk Carton Shortage

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:47:53 GMT

Schools across the nation have a crisis on their hands – a milk carton shortage that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. The battle has been ongoing since early September and schools in New York, California, Pennsylvania and Washington State are feeling the pains the most.

At the root of the issue appears to be a production backlog at Pactiv Evergreen, a packaging manufacturer in Lake Forest, Ill. Pactiv Evergreen bills itself as “the leading manufacturer of fresh food and beverage packaging in North America.”

The company has not offered an official explanation as to why it is not currently able to fulfill its orders. But a November 3 summary of the situation on the packaging industry website “Packaging Dive” noted that earlier in 2023, Pactiv Evergreen announced it was restructuring to combine its beverage and food merchandising businesses.

As a part of that strategy, the company closed a paper mill in Canton, North Carolina, along with a converting facility in Olmsted Falls, Ohio. The dual closures resulted in a total of approximately 1,300 jobs lost.

In alternative strategies to continue to serve milk, some schools are exploring bulk milk dispensers and shelf-stable packaging. Others are simply pouring milk from plastic jugs into reusable or disposable cups.

One U.S. Senator, however, is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address the situation. Sen. Chuck Schumer, senate majority leader for New York, is urging the USDA to take action on the national milk carton shortage hitting dairy farmers and schools in New York and states across the country.

In a recent letter to the department, Schumer urged the USDA to not only ensure New York dairy farmers have the technical support they need to get through the shortage, but also to work with industry leaders to devise creative solutions to get milk to school lunchrooms and to investigate the shortage to stop disruptions like this from happening in the future while minimizing downstream impacts.

“Milk is an essential part of our students’ school lunches and the lifeblood of our Upstate New York agricultural economy, but with a national milk carton shortage looming over our schools, now is the time for the USDA to step up to ensure our farmers get more support to continue their essential work. That is why I am calling on the USDA to start to work with industry leaders to address this shortage we are seeing nationwide, and provide all the leadership and technical support needed to help our New York dairy farmers,” Schumer wrote. “The USDA is uniquely positioned to investigate this problem from a national level and work with the dairy industry, our farmers, and schools to mitigate the impacts of shortages and propose solutions.”

New York State Assemblyman Chris Tague has also chimed in, calling the packaging shortage a “national crisis” on a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “How we handle this situation is going to set a precedent for the availability of milk in schools,” stated the lawmaker and former dairyman. “And right now, it is not going in the right direction.”

Schumer explained in his letter that there is currently a nationwide shortage of half-pint milk cartons impacting New York’s dairy industry. He said that while there is not a shortage of milk, there is a supply chain problem with the cardboard cartons, consequently inhibiting suppliers’ ability to provide milk to schools and other customers in New York state and across the country.

In school lunchrooms, milk is required to be served with every meal according to USDA nutrition standards. While schools are currently working with suppliers to figure out temporary solutions to ensure schools are receiving enough milk and student’s nutritional needs are being met, Schumer says now is the time for the USDA to work with industry and our dairy farmers to find solutions.

For more industry news, read:

DC Signal to Noise: How Congress May Close Out 2021

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 22:18:18 GMT

Chip Flory of AgriTalk and Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer summarize the most recent happenings on The Hill. Click on the video above or the podcast below for insight on these topics and more:

> Dairy Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program status
> COVID-19 Omicron variant
> U.S. International Trade Commission tariffs

Adopt An Attitude Of Gratitude

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 18:20:24 GMT

How can you keep your chin up this growing season, which will likely be sprinkled or slammed with stress?

Take a gratitude walk, suggests Dave Gordon, an author and motivational coach. For five minutes each day, walk around your farm and clear your mind of everything stressing you out.

“I started this practice 15 years ago, and it changed my life,” he explains. “Say out loud what you are thankful for. This will set you up for a positive day.”

Gratitude is like a muscle, Gordon says, the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes. Build your muscle by reading uplifting books, spending time with positive people and thanking important people in your life.

“We know people who reﬂect on gratitude are happier, feel valued and experience fewer health issues,” says Mary Kelly, CEO of Productive Leaders. Use Kelly’s tool below to inventory your blessings.

Monitor Your Personal Check Engine Light

Research shows people who work in agriculture tend to have a higher rate of mental and physical health concerns, explains Sean Brotherson, family science specialist for North Dakota State University.

You owe it to your family and team to monitor and manage your stress signals.

“Signs of stress are like the warning signs on your vehicle dashboard,” Brotherson explains. “They indicate there’s a problem with your engine. So, you need to take steps to remedy what’s going on.”

Unhealthy patterns such as headaches, increased irritability, sleep difficulty, increased use of alcohol or drugs, communication difficulties and isolation are all signals to slow down and focus on wellness.

“Health is the most important asset to any operation. If it is the most important asset, it also needs to be the most important priority,” he says.

Brotherson and Karen Funkenbusch, University of Missouri Extension farm health and safety specialist, offer these suggestions for farmers, ranchers and their families:

Know the warning signs of stress.
During stressful times, do a stress self-inventory.
Slow down and prioritize sleep.
Eat a healthy diet.
Get a physical checkup.
Seek local resources, including clergy and medical professionals. Talk with other farm families and neighbors.
Exercise daily. Take regular breaks throughout the day.

For more strategies to cope with stress and a tool to assess your stress zone, visit AgWeb.com/farm-stress

Suicide Prevention Project Aims to Help Distressed Farmers

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:21:10 GMT

Financial struggles led Leon Statz to sell his 50 dairy cows, causing the third-generation farmer to become depressed.

Then land next to his 200-acre farm near Loganville went up for sale — land his late father had said he should buy. Statz, who didn’t have the money, became hopeless.

On Oct. 8, the day the adjacent property hit the market; Statz killed himself on his farm. He was 57.

“He said, ‘How am I going to afford this?’” Brenda Statz, his wife of 34 years, told the Wisconsin State Journal. “He would panic about everything when it got to finances.”

Wisconsin, which had a record 915 suicides in 2017, may be seeing a surge in suicides and suicidal thoughts among farmers, who are facing some of the worst economic challenges in years, experts say.

Exact numbers of suicides among farmers aren’t available, and authorities say some deaths reported as farm accidents are actually suicides.

But calls to the Wisconsin Farm Center, which helps distressed farmers, were up last year, including a 33 percent increase in November and December compared to the same two months the previous year.

“We definitely have seen an increase in folks who are closer to being that desperate,” said Angie Sullivan, supervisor of the farm center, part of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. “There’s a major increase in their stress level.”

The anguish is approaching that of the 1980s farm crisis, though interest rates today aren’t as high, said Frank Friar, an economic specialist at the farm center who has done similar work for decades.

“There’s so much volatility out there and so much unknown, it makes people think negative,” Friar said.

John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders, an advocacy group in Madison, said he believes farmer suicides are up in Wisconsin from what he’s heard.

Several years of low milk prices, the high cost of farm equipment, trade wars and other pressures contributed to the closure of 691 dairy farms in the state last year, the highest number of closures since 2011.

About 8,100 dairy farms remain, down from about 15,900 in 2004. The number of cows milked has remained steady at nearly 1.3 million, as many surviving farms have expanded.

In 2017, the Western District of Wisconsin had the highest number of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in the country, according to federal court data . The district that year had 28 bankruptcies, which represent only a fraction of total liquidations. Similar figures for 2018 are not yet available.

Talking About Suicide

Though the forces working against farmers can seem insurmountable, a growing effort based in Dodgeville aims to help farmers cope with stress and avoid suicide.

Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program started a farmer suicide prevention project recently. The effort, funded by a $50,000 grant from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Partnership Program, was prompted by an increase in stories about suicides or suicidal thoughts among farmers, said Wally Orzechowski, executive director.

“Farmers tend to be pretty isolated and pretty independent,” Orzechowski said. “When issues of mental health arise, they tend to just deal with it by themselves.”

The project, which also involves the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Iowa County, plans to develop a mobile crisis service, conduct suicide prevention training sessions and establish networks to address suicide in a region stretching from Eau Claire to the state border with Dubuque, Iowa.

“The biggest part is to spread awareness, to say, ‘It is OK to talk about it,’” said Sue Springer Judd, who runs the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Iowa County , which also serves six nearby counties.

Judd spoke to a group of farmers recently in Loganville, about 50 miles northwest of Madison. Her brother, Donald Springer, killed himself in 2012 at age 41, leaving behind three children ages 10 to 15. He owned a plumbing business and had a hobby farm next to his father’s beef farm near Mineral Point.

“We had no idea he was suicidal; we just thought he was depressed,” Judd told more than 40 farmers and others gathered at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Loganville to discuss farmer stress and suicide awareness. “We didn’t know he was going bankrupt and losing his plumbing business.”

Suffering Alone

Randy Roecker, 54, a dairy farmer in Loganville, said he became suicidal a decade ago when the Great Recession hit shortly after he invested millions to expand the farm started by his grandfather.

Medications and hospitalizations didn’t help much, but counseling brought some relief, he said.

“I’m doing better, but I’m still struggling every day,” said Roecker, whose farm milks about 325 cows on 800 acres. “We suffer alone in silence, is what we do.”

Roecker — who attends St. Peter’s, as does Brenda Statz — helped organize the church gathering. He wanted to do something to help after he couldn’t bring himself to attend Leon Statz’s funeral because the suicide brought back his feelings of despair.

“You feel like you’re in this pit, and you’re climbing to try to get out of it,” Roecker said. “We are all struggling so bad. My friends in the city, they have no idea what we’re going through. ... Every load of milk that goes out, we’re losing money.”

When Roecker thought about ending his life, he pictured his two children, minors at the time and now adults, standing by his casket. That prevented him from following through, he said.

Stress on the Farm

For Keith Henneman, from near Boscobel, an outbreak of Johne’s disease, a fatal intestinal infection in cows, appeared to be one reason he killed himself in 2006 at age 29, his parents said.

“It’s very difficult losing cattle like that,” said his mother, Julie Henneman, who with her husband, Phil, sold the 60 cows on their dairy farm, along with the equipment, to their son after he graduated from high school.

“You work so hard to raise the calves and bring them up into the herd, and then a year or two years later, they go downhill,” Julie Henneman said. “There’s a lot of stress on the farm.”

The Hennemans continue to live on the 215-acre farm with two other sons, but they aren’t farming. The couple have other jobs — Julie, 62, at Lands’ End in Dodgeville, and Phil, 63, as a correctional officer at the prison in Boscobel, about 75 miles west of Madison.

They help lead a Dodgeville chapter of The Compassionate Friends, a support group for parents who have lost children for any reason. They also provide training in QPR — or Question, Persuade, Refer — a CPR-like program that helps people recognize signs of suicide and ways to help.

QPR training sessions are one component of the new farmer suicide prevention project.

“No matter how dark a day it is, there is always light someplace, and you can continue on,” Phil Henneman said, sharing some of what he discusses at the training sessions. If people say they’re suicidal, he added, “ask them open-ended questions and let them talk.”

Tried to Get Help

Brenda Statz, 55, was no stranger to signs of suicide by the time her husband took his life in October. He had struggled with depression for years and attempted suicide twice last year after they got rid of their dairy cows in December 2017.

“When we sold the cows, (his depression) came back full bore, and the medications didn’t work,” she said. “Nothing did.”

It wasn’t from a lack of trying. Leon Statz stayed in UW Hospital’s psychiatry unit four times last year and was admitted to Winnebago Mental Health Institute. He saw a counselor in Sauk City and had outpatient treatment at Rogers Behavioral Health in Madison.

Brenda Statz, who works at Lands’ End in its Reedsburg location, said she is disappointed with the mental health care system. Doctors didn’t return her calls or tell her and her three adult children how to help Leon when he was at home, she said.

“I didn’t know what to do with him when his anxiety was through the roof,” she said. “The whole family is affected. That’s where so many places miss the boat.”

Leon Statz agonized about money, so Brenda Statz brought friends and financial experts over to look at their records. Despite some challenges, the farm was paid for and the family was doing OK, they would tell him. The plan was to switch to beef cattle and plant more crops.

But Leon Statz kept saying he was going to lose the farm, Brenda Statz said.

“He couldn’t see the future,” she said. “All he saw was failure.”