Suffering in silence: mental health struggles, suicides shadow farmers and ranchers

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories about mental health and suicide among farmers and ranchers. This story discusses suicidal thoughts, suicide and those grappling with its aftermath. If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide, help is available from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 (800) 273-8255 and https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/.

Darla Tyler-McSherry’s father, Dick Tyler, was a farmer in Lonesome Prairie, Montana. He was born on the farm in 1934, and he killed himself on the farm in 2016.

Tyler-McSherry said that one morning when she was in high school, her father was up “a little too early” harvesting barley. Dick Tyler kept a truck out in the field so that he could load it and continue working after his combine tank was full. He parked the combine, and was unloading the barley into the truck, but it was sticking to the tank.