May 22, 2025 • 4 mins
This month’s Farmstrong farmer and champion is a well-known Taranaki cow cocky and author of the best selling book Tools for the Top Paddock.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Monthly here on the country we catch up with the
farm strong farmer. In the case of this bloke, he's
a farm strong champion. His name is Caine Briscoe, Taranaki
dairy farmer and author of the best selling book Tools
for the Top Paddock. Hey, Kine, I want to ask
you this question to start with, how's your top paddock
after the drought this year in Taranaki.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, Jamie, it's I'm pretty good, to be honest. There's
nothing i haven't been through before. And I'm a big
believer in approaching challenges with the right mindset and that
that gets you through going pretty good and sees you
well at the other end. So I'm pretty good, to
be fair. I'm pretty proactive with our top padd of
these days. Mate.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, so you should be. You're an expert in the field.
You're farming, like twenty minutes north of New Plymouth. I
take it that that part of the Taranaki province wasn't
as badly affected as say that, you know, the southern
coastal region.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
No, absolutely not. Wallet to get pretty dry here, Jamie,
are nothing compared to Coastal and South Taranaki. They got
dryer a lot earlier than us, and they had a
dry summer and winter last year as well, so they
definitely copped it a lot worse.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Now you not only talk the talk, you walk the walk.
Because we're talking about looking after the top paddock, and
you're saying it's just like becoming physically fitter, you can
also learn mental skills that will make you mentally stronger
and more resilient. Now, how important, because I know you're
a bit of a fitness guru as well, how important
(01:32):
is physical fitness for mental health?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, they go hand in hand with each other, Jamie.
I've always sort of said good mental fitness requires great
physical support. So all the things you need to do
to look after the top paddock, so to speak, require
physical actions and living a good physical life. So it's
really difficult to have one without the other.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
To be honest, these are lessons learned from the world
of elite sport, where literally being an elite sportsman can
play hell with your head. I don't know how the
professional golfers do it, but Farmstrong has this new mental
skills toolkit which is available online. It's not all touchy, fairly,
(02:14):
is it? Tell me? It's practical and down to earth
for the farmers.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
No, no, not at all. Made. If I can do it,
anyone can. I think I'm a pretty typical Kiwi bloke.
So now it's very easy to understand it. They take
complex things and make them very simple and easy to understand,
so anyone can do it. There's no quick fix, but
it's really simple things. It can be as little as
(02:39):
five minutes a day. But it's doing those little things
consistently in building up their toolkit over time that really
makes the difference. So really simple, really quick, really easy.
You just need to stick at it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
What do I do? So daily I try and be
very physical with what I do obviously, so some physical
and physical activity that's not farm work. I always ride
out some of the old thoughts in the in the
top of my head, you know, perhaps causing some frustrations.
(03:19):
And also, you know, socializing is really important being part
of the community and your friends group, and I guess
you're just trying to maintain that perspective in life. Made
I think that's one of the keys.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, I remember back to my days as a farmer,
and that's going back a few years now, came, but
I remember, you know, you're going through a tough time.
I was a sheep farmer in Southland. You'd get a
lambing storm and you would think that you were being
hit worse than any other farmer in the district. But
sometimes going into the pub on a Friday night, whatever
your area of choices for gathering and talking to other
(03:52):
people with similar problems, just you know, a problem shared
is a problem. Halved I just and you mentioned that
getting off farm, having a life or a hobby or
a sport outside the farm, because if you're just farming
farming farming, it'll do your heading. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Absolutely, I've had exactly that scenario in my farming career
a couple of times. And you think you're the only one,
and you think you're the worst farmer in New Zealand
or the district or whatever, and you feel like a
bit of a failure. But when you go out and
actually talk to other people, there's always someone else that's
got the same problems or in fact has it worse,
and that can really take a mental load off.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Absolutely, you're farming, dairy farming and Taranaki, are you milking
on into the winter caine at ten bucks?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, No, we're still milking at the moment, but the
end is drawing there, so we're just the cold temperatures
starting to hit the NECKI so it won't be too
long and we'll be finishing up. Mate next season.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You are a true farm strong champion, Caine Briscoe. Thanks
for your time today on the country.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, Jamie appreciate it.
Monthly here on the country we catch up with the
farm strong farmer. In the case of this bloke, he's
a farm strong champion. His name is Caine Briscoe, Taranaki
dairy farmer and author of the best selling book Tools
for the Top Paddock. Hey, Kine, I want to ask
you this question to start with, how's your top paddock
after the drought this year in Taranaki.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, Jamie, it's I'm pretty good, to be honest. There's
nothing i haven't been through before. And I'm a big
believer in approaching challenges with the right mindset and that
that gets you through going pretty good and sees you
well at the other end. So I'm pretty good, to
be fair. I'm pretty proactive with our top padd of
these days. Mate.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Well, so you should be. You're an expert in the field.
You're farming, like twenty minutes north of New Plymouth. I
take it that that part of the Taranaki province wasn't
as badly affected as say that, you know, the southern
coastal region.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
No, absolutely not. Wallet to get pretty dry here, Jamie,
are nothing compared to Coastal and South Taranaki. They got
dryer a lot earlier than us, and they had a
dry summer and winter last year as well, so they
definitely copped it a lot worse.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Now you not only talk the talk, you walk the walk.
Because we're talking about looking after the top paddock, and
you're saying it's just like becoming physically fitter, you can
also learn mental skills that will make you mentally stronger
and more resilient. Now, how important, because I know you're
a bit of a fitness guru as well, how important
(01:32):
is physical fitness for mental health?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, they go hand in hand with each other, Jamie.
I've always sort of said good mental fitness requires great
physical support. So all the things you need to do
to look after the top paddock, so to speak, require
physical actions and living a good physical life. So it's
really difficult to have one without the other.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
To be honest, these are lessons learned from the world
of elite sport, where literally being an elite sportsman can
play hell with your head. I don't know how the
professional golfers do it, but Farmstrong has this new mental
skills toolkit which is available online. It's not all touchy, fairly,
(02:14):
is it? Tell me? It's practical and down to earth
for the farmers.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
No, no, not at all. Made. If I can do it,
anyone can. I think I'm a pretty typical Kiwi bloke.
So now it's very easy to understand it. They take
complex things and make them very simple and easy to understand,
so anyone can do it. There's no quick fix, but
it's really simple things. It can be as little as
(02:39):
five minutes a day. But it's doing those little things
consistently in building up their toolkit over time that really
makes the difference. So really simple, really quick, really easy.
You just need to stick at it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Well, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
What do I do? So daily I try and be
very physical with what I do obviously, so some physical
and physical activity that's not farm work. I always ride
out some of the old thoughts in the in the
top of my head, you know, perhaps causing some frustrations.
(03:19):
And also, you know, socializing is really important being part
of the community and your friends group, and I guess
you're just trying to maintain that perspective in life. Made
I think that's one of the keys.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, I remember back to my days as a farmer,
and that's going back a few years now, came, but
I remember, you know, you're going through a tough time.
I was a sheep farmer in Southland. You'd get a
lambing storm and you would think that you were being
hit worse than any other farmer in the district. But
sometimes going into the pub on a Friday night, whatever
your area of choices for gathering and talking to other
(03:52):
people with similar problems, just you know, a problem shared
is a problem. Halved I just and you mentioned that
getting off farm, having a life or a hobby or
a sport outside the farm, because if you're just farming
farming farming, it'll do your heading. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Absolutely, I've had exactly that scenario in my farming career
a couple of times. And you think you're the only one,
and you think you're the worst farmer in New Zealand
or the district or whatever, and you feel like a
bit of a failure. But when you go out and
actually talk to other people, there's always someone else that's
got the same problems or in fact has it worse,
and that can really take a mental load off.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Absolutely, you're farming, dairy farming and Taranaki, are you milking
on into the winter caine at ten bucks?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, No, we're still milking at the moment, but the
end is drawing there, so we're just the cold temperatures
starting to hit the NECKI so it won't be too
long and we'll be finishing up. Mate next season.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You are a true farm strong champion, Caine Briscoe. Thanks
for your time today on the country.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, Jamie appreciate it.
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