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If you haven’t heard by now, the Great Plains is a bit short on beef cattle veterinarians. Somehow, we’re having trouble recruiting young folks to go $200,000 in debt for a job that pays less than half that, so they can have the privilege of being called in the middle of the night to work on cantankerous cows.
Here in the Midwest, we are the kings of small talk. I would venture to guess, nowhere else in the world does weather comprise the beginning, main subject and closing matter of nearly every conversation a person has during the day. I have no idea what you folks in mild climates talk about – probably religion and politics.
That unrelenting tyrant has descended once again upon the Dakotas – Old Man Winter. His arrival heralds subzero weather, wind-blown drifts that envelope pickups and, worst of all, brutally chapped lips. Its only positive attribute is that for one season, we don’t have to dodge road construction.
Working cattle is a complicated process. You have to get the cattle up and sorted. Then the facility must be in order, with the alley and chute functioning. Add to this that all the products you plan on using on the cattle need to be lined up, with syringes prepared. And, that’s just the prep work.
A marathon begins in late August every year across cattle country. No, it’s not one celebrated with loud music and matching T-shirts, but instead it begins with the rumble of bawling calves and auction cries. This jaunt, of course, is the fall run of spring-born calves, ready to move from the ranch to their next destination.
My, oh my, how fast things can change. It’s hard to think a few short months ago, the word “coronavirus” only made us think about calf scours and masks were something you only wore on Halloween. I’ll tell you what, for all those folks last December who were making jokes about 20/20 vision, I can say they sure didn’t see this coming.
If you raise cows, you either have to really love these animals or be somewhat not right in the head. The bovine can make a person half-crazy with her habits of finding fence holes, calving in dumb places and maybe getting a bit ornery at times. And let’s face it, we ain’t gettin’ rich doing this job.
Although video sales are gaining a foothold on the cattle trade, most calves still transfer from rancher to feeder through a sale barn. And if there is a sale, it is a requirement that there is a veterinarian on site.
It takes a special kind of person to be a veterinarian. Not special like the kind of person that fosters troubled kids or dedicates their life to ending world hunger, but the kind of special that makes you wonder where the wiring went a bit awry in the ol’ noggin.
