It’s been quite a few years since Tim Crossley has come into the house at the end of a day and felt he’s had a good physical workout from a day of grain farming.
As life on the farm gets more automated, Crossley has been forced to look for ways to stay in shape other than relying on getting enough exercise during his daily routine.
“I might spend a day outside hauling grain or seeding, but I don’t get the aerobic workout,” said Crossley.
“I don’t think we are quite as active in the farm work as we should be.”
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
Instead, Crossley runs on the gravel roads near his Moosomin, Sask., farm, cross country skis in his fields and runs on trails at the lake in the summer just to maintain his fitness level.
Cor Van Raay, one of the largest feedlot operators in Canada, said he, too, had to make a conscious effort to exercise as life on his southern Alberta farm changed.
When he started farming with a half section of sugar beets in the 1960s, he stayed in shape lifting heavy irrigation pipe or – moving equipment. As his feedlot operation grew, he found himself sitting behind a desk working at his computer or talking on the telephone for several hours a day.
“A lot of farmers think because they’re busy they don’t have to exercise and that’s absolutely not the case,” said Van Raay of Iron Springs, who drives half an hour to Lethbridge six days a week to run with a running club or work out at a gym at the University of Lethbridge or the YMCA.
“I like to keep fit,” said Van Raay, who made a concerted effort to stay in shape despite his busy schedule.
“I can find an excuse every day why not to go. It’s too windy or too rainy or too cold. A lot of guys just have to make up their mind and say they want to stay in shape,” he said.
The camaraderie of running with a group is key to staying motivated, said Van Raay, who acknowledged that being in a rural area and doing exercise on one’s own is difficult. He also wonders whether he would drive twice as far to the gym or his running club.
“You’d just be that much more determined but it’s really tough to get out on a winter night. It’d be a tough one.”
While farming used to be considered one of the most physically active occupations, it has changed dramatically over the years, said an American researcher who studied a group of Amish people from southern Ontario who shun modern technology.
The study published in the Medicine & Science in Sports journal by University of Tennessee professor David Bassett in 2004, shows how much life on the farm has changed.
Ninety-eight Amish adults wore pedometers and logged their physical activity for one week to help understand the influence of technology on physical activity levels in modern society.
The Amish men, who mostly work as farmers, reported on average 10 hours of vigorous work per week and took an average of 18,425 steps a day. One man, who walked behind horses while farming, recorded 51,000 steps a day.
Women, most of whom were homemakers with more moderate activity such as gardening, cooking and child care, averaged about 14,196 steps a day. In Canada and the United States, adults tend to log about 2,000 to 3,000 steps a day.
“The Amish were able to show us just how far we’ve fallen in the last 150 years or so in terms of the amount of physical activity we typically perform,” said Bassett in his report.
“Their lifestyle indicates that physical activity played a critical role in keeping our ancestors fit and healthy.”
The Amish diet consists of meat, potatoes, gravy, eggs, vegetables, bread, pies and cakes typically associated with the farm.
Despite the high fat and high sugar diet, only four percent of the Amish were considered obese.
In contrast, 31 percent of Americans are obese and 65 percent are overweight. About 15 percent of Canadians are obese and about half are overweight.
Similar results were reached comparing Old Order Mennonite children with rural and urban kids in Saskatchewan in a study by Mark Tremblay, who teaches kinesiology at the University of Saskatchewan.
Tremblay’s research showed a higher fitness and strength level in Old Order Mennonite children in Ontario compared to a group of Saskatchewan rural and urban children aged eight to 13.
The secret to fitness levels in the Old Order Mennonite children is not a mystery, said Tremblay. They’re just more active.
The Old Order Mennonite children do an average 18 more minutes a day of vigorous activity despite having no physical education in school and not being involved in organized sport. While 18 minutes a day may not seem like a lot more activity, the extra effort accumulates, just like savings in a bank account.
“Old Order Mennonite children just have more lifestyle-embedded activity,” said Tremblay. They walk to school and play as they go, or they ride a bike or climb a tree. They don’t watch television or play computer games as entertainment.
“They have so much more lifestyle activity,” he said. “We’ve almost become accustomed to the idea that physical activity is a special event and not an embedded part of life.”
After John Neabel of Minnedosa, Man., had a heart attack, his doctor told him he must walk five kilometres each day. The former Manitoba Agriculture employee didn’t relish the idea of walking outside by himself in the winter, so he helped form the Minnedosa Fitness Centre Co-op eight years ago.
In small towns across the Prairies, keeping a fitness centre afloat is difficult, but it has worked as a co-op, with many of the 150 members also being shareholders of the fitness centre. There is also a fitness co-op in nearby Virden.
Despite the location of the gym in the farming community, there are few farmer members, said Neabel.
“We probably have more farmers’ sons than farmers.
“The farmers themselves probably figure they’re getting enough exercise on the farm that they don’t need to come to town to do exercise,” he said.
“A lot of farmers, depending on their operation, are more sedentary than they realize.”
Alberta feedlot operator George Graham said when the South Slope Feeders office was renovated, a gym was added to the basement.
“We thought it was something we wanted to do. We thought it would get used a lot more if we had it right here on site. It’s been a real good addition to our operation,” said Graham.
“I spend a lot of time here at my desk during the day and found I needed to make some time to get some physical activity into my daily routine,” said Graham, who also cycles several times a week in the summer and has entered British Columbia’s Golden Triangle race where participants cycle 115 km a day for three days.
Graham doesn’t know if more exercise centres in more small towns across the Prairies would increase the fitness of people in the farming community. Like many things it’s a personal decision to take the time to exercise and keep it up.
Crossley also said taking the time to stay fit is a personal decision people must make for themselves.
“You’ve got to see the light. To me it’s pretty obvious. Fitness is really important to me,” said Crossley who feels better after a run.
“It takes your mind off some of these farming issues and it seems to be a bit of a stress reliever.”
