Ranching in the West:
Is it Hazardous to your Health?
Randy R. Weigel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Extension Specialist
Department of Family & Consumer Sciences
University of Wyoming
Behavioral Health
A more encompassing term than mental
health and includes conditions of stress and
anxiety, self-destructive behavior, addiction,
adjustment disorders, and/or interpersonal
relationship difficulties.
Let’s go west
It’s our ticket out of here
Yeah we can disappear
Let’s go west
And that painted sky was
made for us
It’s everything we ever
dreamed of
Let’s go west.
Brooks & Dunn,
Let’s Go West
The spaces between ranches, and
between ranches and the highway, and
most of all between an individual
ranch and its nearest city, county seat,
or even town, can be large indeed.
Starrs, P. (1998)
Let the cowboy ride: Cattle
ranching in the American West.
“Geo-conflicts”
Conflicts over the natural resources
and geography of the West.
“The struggle to secure ample high-quality
water has fostered mistrust, misunderstanding and has created disharmony.
Water conflicts have driven wedges between:
neighbors, states, nations, cultures.”
Ingram, H. (1998).
Place humanists at the head gates
Reopening the American West
“I told the Elko County commissioners,
‘The days are gone when you’ll come in
here and pound on the district ranger’s
table and he’ll piss in his pants and
you’ll get your way.’”
Jim Nelson, supervisor
Toiyabe & Humboldt
National Forests, Nevada
“We are outraged and demand accountability
of the actions taken by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service surrounding the incident,”
(FWS worker with wolves on private property)
Park County Commissioners
Park County (Cody), Wyoming
Life at the Edge
“The lives of urban and rural dwellers are
becoming increasingly intertwined, and often
tangled. This entanglement can be found at
the urban wildland interface.”
Huntsinger & Hopkins (1996).
Viewpoint: Sustaining rangeland landscapes: A
social and ecological process.
Journal of Range Management
“Kent Knudson picked up a rifle and
opened fire, defending his 40 acres in
Arizona, and got handcuffed and
hauled to jail.”
High Country News
March 1, 2004
vol. 36, no. 4
Frontier Rural Areas
Distinguished by low population density
and great isolation, comprised of
fewer than 7 residents per square mile.
Cairlo et al. (1996)
Focusing on “frontier”: Isolated rural America.
Ranch Preservationism
A term that describes an attitude
that being a rancher leads to a
higher well-being than other
methods of making a living.
“What’s it going to take – me sitting on
my front porch shooting the next
son of a bitch that tells me when I can
and can’t move my cows?”
New Mexico Rancher
High Country News
retrieved, 2/4/2004 from:
http://www.hcn.org/
“The cowboy is in many minds today—as he was in those
of Remington and Wister—laconic, chivalric, physically
attractive, adroit, violent, romantic and lonesome. That
mythic image may have very little in common with the
real cowboy of today, or even with history, but it persists
by popular demand.”
Hassrick, P. (1993-94).
The Wyoming cowboy’s evolving image.
Wyoming Annals, 65(4), 8-9.
Socialization of the Cowboy
Beliefs about how men ought to behave
are constructed at many levels in
society and in the minds of men.
* “no sissy stuff”
* “ the big wheel”
* “ the sturdy oak”
* “ give `em hell”
Male Approach to Counseling
traditional approach to counseling
vs.
traditional male socialization
Of the 5276 suicides to white males in
The mountain states, 3653 (70%) of
these suicides were committed by firearm.
Kaplan, M., & Geling, O. (1998).
Firearm suicides and homicides in the United States:
Regional variations and patterns of gun ownership.
Social Science & Medicine 46(9), 1227-1333.
In Wyoming, suicide is the second leading
cause of death in young people aged 15-24.
Of the sixteen suicides reported in 2001,
twelve were by firearms.
State of Wyoming Department of Health (2003)
State Rankings on Suicide, 1990-2000
NOTE: Rankings in red indicate states ranked in the top 10 for that
year. Rankings in blue represent states with rates at or below the
national rate for the year. Rankings in black indicate states with rates
above the national rate for the year but not in the top 10.
State / [Region]
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
Nevada [M]
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
02
Wyoming [M]
06
03
04
02
02
06T
05
04
03
02
05
Alaska [P]
25T
24
09
09
03
06T 02T
02
02
06
01
Arizona [M]
04T
05
06
03T
04
03
08
08
05
05
06
Montana [M]
02
02
03
03T
05
02
02T
03
04
03
04
04T
04
02
05
06
04
04
05T
06
04
03
Idaho [M]
03
09
08
06
07
08
12
05T
08
08
16T
Colorado [M]
07
06
05
07
08
05
06
10
12
Oregon [P]
09
11
07
12
09
09
09
09
07
09
07T
Utah [M]
10
07T
12
16
10
13
13
12
09
15T
10
New Mexico [M]
http://mypage.iusb.edu/~jmcintos/SuicideStates.html
10T 07T
Why the West’s Soaring Suicide Rate?
Five factors common to the Mountain states:
-
loss of family ties
availability of firearms
lack of behavioral health
geography
pregnancy habits?
Briggs, B. (Aug. 27, 2000)
Isolation, access to guns tied to West’s soaring rate
The Sunday Denver Post
Mothers of suicide victims:
• received less prenatal care
• more likely to smoke and drink during pregnancy
• higher level of chronic disease during pregnancy
Salk, L. et al. (1985).
Relationship of maternal and perinatal
conditions to eventual adolescent suicide.
The Lancet, March, (624-627).
Changing Fabric of Rural Life
• Fewer ranchers and farmers
• Reduced support service “safety net”
• A growing global economy
• Individualistic political climate
• Boom or bust economy
Changing Fabric of Rural Life (cont.)
• Lack of primary care providers
• Urban/rural mental illness
• Higher levels of depression, suicide, abuse in
ag. populations
• Reduced concern for plight of agriculture
• Changing “Agri – culture”
Census Count of Farms:
1978 to 1997
All Operators
1978
1982
1,
91
1,
85
9
30
0
1,
92
5,
2,
08
7,
75
9
97
6
2,
24
0,
77
5
2,
25
7,
47
6
17
,
18
3
16
,
17
,
57
2
20
,
95
6
27
,
71
7
Hispanic Operators
1987
1992
1997
1978
1982
1987
1992
1997
Summary:
Obstacles to Behavioral (mental) Health
Care in the Rockies (frontier).
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Shortage of health professionals
Staff turnover
Lack of choice of provider
High rates of under/un-insured
Cultural barriers
Lack of confidentiality
Distance
Corrine, J. (2003)
Frontier communities: Leading the way with innovative
approaches to behavioral health
“In many areas of the rural West, the development of
specialized health services is less economically feasible.
A low population base and corresponding weak economic
base coupled with vast distances and isolation mean that
specialized mental health services will seldom be locally
available to rural/frontier areas.”
Source: Frontier Mental Health Strategies. Retrieved: November 3, 2003
http://wiche.edu/MentalHealth/Frontier/letter6.html
Frontier Behavioral Health
Delivery Strategies:
• Integration
• Outreach
• Empowerment
• Connection
Source: Frontier Mental Health Strategies. Retrieved: November 3, 2003
http://wiche.edu/MentalHealth/Frontier/letter6.html
Rural Family Support “Networks”
• Hotlines: Kansas Rural Family Helpline
Saskatchewan Farm Stress Line
• Intervention/Referral: Nebraska Rural Response Line
Farm Resource Center (Illinois)
• Support Groups: Women in Ag; W.I.F.E.;
Women in Blue Jeans
• Mediation: Coalition of Agricultural Mediation
• Education: Cooperative Extension; consultants;
Trade Magazines
• Outreach: Sowing the Seeds of Hope (Midwest)
Advocacy on Behalf of Ranchers &
Farmers and their Families:
• Lobbying for increased behavioral health support
for agricultural and rural areas
• Training of health providers and others who
work with ranchers and farmers
• Changing attitudes of ranchers and farmers
toward seeking help
“Going for help beats the
hell out of the hell the
family goes through after
a family member commits
suicide or homicide.”
Robert J. Fetsch
Family Therapist
Wyoming’s greatest natural resource is not the coal
in the Powder River Basin, the natural gas in our
sedimentary formations, the oil in the Big Horn Basin or the
trona in the Green River Basin. It is not the pure water of our
streams, the strong grass on our prairies or the stunning
views of our mountains. Wyoming’s greatest natural resource
is our people. Properly providing for their good physical and
mental health is essential to the future of our state.
Stroock, T. ( March 27, 2003)
Need a handle on health care
Casper Star and Tribune