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Calving is a busy time for dairy farmers and can be taxing on both the body and mind, but a bit of preparation can make it more manageable, Cheyenne Wilson says.
A former contract milker, Wilson is now a rural professional working in the dairy industry and is chair of the Youth Food and Fibre Network.
One of Wilson's preparation tips is to keep fit during the off-season, even though it's a bit harder to get motivated during the winter months.
She suggested getting involved in winter sports.
"I quite enjoy playing netball so that always helps me get a little bit fitter and ready for calving," she told The Country's Rowena Duncum.
Winter was also a good time to stock the freezer and prepare meals, Wilson said.
"Get your freezer full of some food ready to go, so that you can just easily heat it and get it out and ready to eat during calving.
"Prepping food was just invaluable to making sure I got through calving in one piece and was well-nourished."
Having a great support network and making them aware of the situation was also vital for calving, Wilson said.
"I found that making sure my friends knew that calving season was coming and that I was probably not going to be available to go out for dinners and stuff really helped."
She found this communication inadvertently helped out with her food preparation as well.
"I had friends that would bring fish and chips 'round to me during calving season."
One of the most important tips for staying well during calving was the one that Wilson reckoned farmers found the most unnatural – take time off-farm.
"When I organised my roster, I put myself in the roster [so] that I had time off where I could go hunting - that was the main thing that I did to get off the farm but also out in nature."
Finally, Wilson had a practical tip that could really help reduce the calving workload –a cleaner.
"That was one thing I learnt. Pay a cleaner to come in and do the stuff that sort of drops off the bottom of the list when calving season comes around."
Due to the nature of farming, Wilson said it was easy for farmers to forget to look after themselves during busy times.
"We put so much effort into looking after our animals and our farm and our staff that we often forget about ourselves."
It was important to "stay in a really good mindset" when dealing with stressful situations, Wilson said.
"I make sure every day … that I sit down and I think about three things that I'm really appreciative for."
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While she found this process tough when she first started, getting into this habit really helped her.
"I think if we celebrate the small wins, we're keeping ourselves in a really good headspace."
Wilson is also a big supporter of the nationwide rural wellbeing programme Farmstrong and has been involved in developing resources to help other farmers over the years.
Farmstrong's website has many resources to help farmers through calving, from information on how to reduce stress, to Fit for Calving videos.
The content came from "great farmers doing great stuff" which was important, Wilson said.
"As we know farmers listen to farmers, so it was really cool to have those stories shared and experiences readily accessible to everyone in the industry and outside of the industry as well."