Raising suicide awareness part of Kojonup Livestock Matters forum as farmers encouraged to ‘run with Ben’

An invitation to run with suicide awareness campaigner Ben Pettingill on the morning of the upcoming Kojonup Livestock Matters forum is gathering momentum. WA Livestock Research Council (WALRC) executive officer Esther Price worked with Mr Pettingill, a resilience speaker who is 98 per cent blind, and his amputee mate Mike Rolls at last month’s BeefWeek in Rockhampton. It was there Ms Price learnt of Mr Pettingill’s mission to run 3249km this calendar year — 1km for every suicide in Australia during 2022 — as part of the #runwithben initiative. With funding from the State Government’s dry season response package, Mr Pettingill and Mr Rolls will be presenting at WALRC’s Livestock Matters forums at Kojonup on June 25 and Manypeaks on June 27. Their “talking is tough” presentation draws on their own stories of becoming suddenly blind and an overnight amputee to encourage people to have hard conversations. Because Mr Pettingill can not run without someone accompaning him, Ms Price offered to be his guide during his stay in Kojonup. But it quickly escalated to an invitation to all of the industry to “run with Ben” that morning. “The whole concept of seeing the sheep industry come together, running shoulder-to-shoulder with a blind man and guiding him on his quest, just seemed like a good thing to do,” Ms Price said. The show quickly “got legs”, with Boyd Rae from the Active Farmers juggernaut volunteering to come and “do the warmups” from 6.15am and bring with him as many group members as he can muster. The Kojonup Lions Club will provide breakfast to those brave enough to kickstart their morning with Ben. “It really is possible that we’ll see over 200 people gather at the Kojonup football oval and, from 6.30am, do as many or as few laps with Ben and Mike as they fancy,” Ms Price said. “It will be not only a spectacle but a great illustration of the power of supporting each other.” Not one to be left out, Mr Rolls will bring his blades so he can keep up the rear of the run. The sheep-focused Kojonup event will centre on the need to “make good decisions” around sheep plans. And while there’s no silver bullets, the intent is to have a quality and safe forum to discuss alternative approaches to “what’s next” with sheep. The beef focus day at Manypeaks will give the industry a follow-up opportunity to head back to Kent Rochester’s farm, which was featured in the 2021 Livestock Matters series. The visit will not only give producers the opportunity to see how his grass-fed year-round turn off program is progressing, but it will be augmented with the news that Kent has just invested in 50 eShepherd collars to introduce virtual fencing to his already highly-automated farming system. The beef day will continue at the neighbouring Ravenhill farm, where the focus will be on feedbase and time of calving discussions. Visit walrc.com.au/events/ to book for either events or to take part in the June 25 run. WALRC is partnering with grower groups Southern Dirt in Kojonup and Stirlings to Coast Farmers in Manypeaks to bring the roadshow to town.