The Hoosier Farmer

It takes a lot to shake a farmer or rancher. The definition of their “worst day” is oftentimes the type of day that would bring anyone to their knees and maybe even keep them down.

That “worst day” came for Delaware farmer Steve Breeding on a spring afternoon in 2024, when more than 200 of his sheep were killed in a tragic barn fire. Already feeling stress from other aspects of his life, the loss of his animals was too much for Steve to bear.

“I just lost it. I literally threw up and had a mental breakdown and that really set me into a fit,” he recalled. “I think that week was probably the hardest of my life because it’s what you worked for your whole life.”

For weeks after the accident, Breeding suffered in silence. He closed himself off from his friends and family and refused offers of help from neighbors and fellow Farm Bureau members, afraid to let other people see just how much pain he was in.

His anguish eventually led to a turning point.

“I was sitting in my pickup one afternoon. I couldn’t handle it anymore and I didn’t know what to do. I literally had a pistol in one hand, and I was contemplating what to do,” he said.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Breeding caught a glimpse of a Farm State of Mind flier promoting mental health resources available to rural communities along with the 988 crisis lifeline listed on the bottom of the page.

“I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’ So I put down my gun and I picked up my cell phone. It was the best call I ever made in my life,” he said.

From there Breeding’s story turned to one of hope, perseverance, and eventually, inspiring others to open up about their own struggles with mental health. With the help of medication and the support of his community, Steve began to heal from the stress he was facing at the time of the fire. He cleaned up the remnants of his old sheep barn and built a new one in 2025.

“The more I’m removed from the situation, I realize it wasn’t about the sheep or the barn. It was about other stuff that had happened and there are resources that Farm Bureau has pushed out to people,” he said. “Being an advocate for that, I try to tell people to log on to Farm State of Mind. If you don’t have that person to vent to, the Togetherall platform gives you that opportunity to do it anonymously and have no regrets about it. If you feel like you need to talk to somebody, talk to somebody.”

Along the way of sharing his story with others, Breeding’s met countless others who have faced difficult times and felt moved to share their story with him. He’s realized that mental health challenges aren’t just a problem for one generation of agriculture or because of one downturn in a certain market – depression, anxiety and related conditions are common in this industry, but no one has to suffer alone.

“Don’t make a permanent situation out of something temporary,” said Breeding. “There’s bad stuff that happens to everybody; don’t think it’s just you. We all need a little bit of help.”

The shadow of Steve’s worst day eventually led him to the light of his current path, proof that better days often lie just around the bend.

Contact Editor

Robert Herrington

(317) 692-7871

RHerrington@infb.org