Let's Talk Foundation raise funds to continue their valuable work

Jane and Michael Fitzgibbon, who founded the Let's Talk initiative in south-west Victoria, said it was crucial to maintain a community involvement focus in the initiative.

"Seven years ago, our only son who worked on our farm, took his own life, and in that year, there were 17 other suicides in the south-west," she said.

"The community were in disarray and asking 'why is this happening?'" Jane Fitzgibbon said.

The couple sold two Angus steers with an average weight of 660 kilograms at the most recent Mortlake store sale for $5700, which went towards the upcoming 24-hour Shear Madness event at Warrnambool Showgrounds to be held later this year.

Ms Fitzgibbon said the stigma associated with mental health was the biggest challenge, but there was better recognition if someone lived with poor mental health.

Preventative measures encouraging people to talk about these with those who have lived experience and are familiar with health literacy were also critical.

"We believe a change is happening, but culture change takes 10 to 30 years, and we're seven years in, and it's very difficult to measure culture at times," Jane Fitzgibbon said.

"But we believe that on average, after a presentation, one or two people will open up to their friends or family or go and seek help."

Michael Fitzgibbon said assisting smaller, remote communities throughout Victoria was imperative.

"If we go to a community, say of 60 people, you can bet that at least one person in that room will need to go see somebody to take care of their health," he said.

The most recent National Farmer Wellbeing Report released in April this year showed that nearly half of 1300 surveyed farmers had thoughts of self-harm or suicide, while close to a third have attempted self-harm or suicide.

Nearly a third of farmers that were surveyed said their mental health had declined in recent times.

Community activation lead for Let's Talk Abbi Power said local initiatives like Shear Madness helped with recognising the issue that mental health presents for farmers, but it was a "slow burn".

"Those statistics are just staggering, and we know that mental health issues are really prevalent in the farming and agriculture community, so I think it's being here at WVLX is the best place that we can be, and it can be really making a difference to some of these people," she said.

Ms Power said farmers also dealt with unique issues which those in urban centres may not see.

"The weather plays a huge part for farmer's wellbeing, whereas people who live in cities don't deal with the mental health impacts of the weather as much," she said.

"While I do not want to dismiss mental health issues overall - they exist in many spaces - what farmers deal with is so unique, and their work plus home life is all on the farm.

"So it's important to recognise those risk factors that farmers experience, looking at how they understand things best and putting things into their language that helps them to make a difference."

Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Men's Referral Service on 1300 776 491.