June is National Dairy Month! Practicing in mid-Missouri, I work predominately with beef cattle and deal with very few, if any, dairy cattle. I learned quickly in veterinary school that dairy practice was not for me, and we’ll go into more detail about that later. However, I have always had a healthy appreciation for dairy products. I grew up drinking lots of milk from a young age, and I’m thankful for that. Dairy products, including milk and other good stuff like cheese and yogurt, contain nine essential nutrients, from calcium to potassium. These nutrients can help you manage your weight, reduce your risk of high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and certain cancers. I had the great privilege of getting my milk locally sourced from a young age. A friendly man would come to our house and deliver fresh milk in a glass jar. Little did I know that man would someday become my father-in-law. There were times that I even caught some heat for my love of milk. While competing on the track and cross country team at my college in Florida, my teammates just couldn’t understand why I drank so much milk. “What’s the deal with all the milk you drink? Don’t you know how high in fat that is (I drink whole milk)? Have you ever tried soy milk?” They would usually ask these questions while hobbling around on crutches, nursing stress fractures in their legs or feet. By the way, I have tasted soy milk, and it tastes like crap. After running competitively for years and pounding the pavement for tens of thousands of miles, I have yet to have a stress fracture or a broken bone (knock on wood!). Despite drinking at least a gallon of whole milk each week (this is just me, I’m not including my husband’s milk consumption), I have maintained a healthy weight, normal blood pressure despite my high stress job, and normal cholesterol. Okay, okay. I realize not all of this may be due to milk and dairy consumption, but there’s no doubt that it plays a crucial role in my health. At my last prenatal appointment, my doctor exclaimed, “Wow! Your baby already has an impressive level of ossification! (new bone formation)” Yeah! Way to go, Pip! (our nickname for the baby). I’ll give myself a little pat on the back too, as I drink my glass of milk...and then I’ll drink another. For the rest of this blog, I’ll give you a number of stories involving dairy cattle and the dairy business. Enjoy! First Step to Becoming A Veterinarian: Marry a Dairy Farmer’s Son My first exposure to dairy cattle or really, cattle in general, was on the Doxie Draw Dairy (Stroupe dairy farm). As mentioned in previous blogs, I was somewhat of a late bloomer in the field of veterinary medicine. I didn’t decide to be a veterinarian until about a year before I applied for veterinary school. Even though my husband and I dated in high school, I didn’t visit the farm much until after I started college. I suppose he was afraid exposing me to farm life might scare me off? I had put up with my then-boyfriend (now husband) constantly saying he pulled teats for a living, so I figured it was time to see the process and what he actually does. My early days on the Stroupe farm were my first up-close farm experiences. To be honest, when I first stepped foot in their dairy barn, I didn’t know a Holstein from a Hereford. I was amazed the first time I experienced the milking process at the Stroupe farm; the large, docile animals, the rhythmic swooshing of the milk machines, the yelling from the Stroupes and occasional cussing when a foot flung their direction. I would say, “This is so much fun!” and my husband would reply, “It’s always fun the first few times you milk cows.” I think one of my favorite parts of the dairy farm was its most beloved cow, Star. She was one of the only cows in the herd with horns. She must have gotten missed on dehorning day as a calf. She was not afraid to use those horns to boss around the other cows and acquire the best position at the feeding bunk. The best thing about Star? You could ride her! I’m pretty sure everyone in the Stroupe family has gotten a picture riding Star, and I’ve provided examples for you in this blog post. Alas, Star is no longer with us. One day after milking, my husband left the grain bin open and Star got in and got her fill. They thought she would be okay, but she died a day or so later from grain overload. To this day, I still give my husband a hard time about killing everyone’s favorite cow. But in the end, she died doing what she loved: eating. I learned a lot from the Stroupe farm. The first time I ever rectally palpated a cow was on the Stroupe farm. If you’re wondering why veterinarians have an affinity for sticking their arms inside cows’ rectums, it’s to detect pregnancy and confirm their gestation in pregnancy. It’s a skill that is acquired over time. During this first experience, to no surprise, I basically just felt warm mush. That’s generally the sensation you feel for a long time. Once in veterinary school, you learn that it takes going in about a thousand cows before you really know what you’re feeling. That was very much my experience, and we’ll elaborate on that later. I also learned basic cattle handling and behavior, how to milk cows without getting kicked, how to clean the milk machines, and much more. Foremost Dairy: The Beginnings of a Career in Beef Cattle Practice During my education in veterinary school, I spent a LOT of time at Foremost Dairy, the university’s dairy farm. Since I didn’t grow up on a farm, I figured I was behind the eight ball when it came to experience with cattle. After hearing that you needed to palpate about 1,000 cows before knowing what you’re doing, I got a lump in my throat and knew I had to get as much experience as possible. I joined Bovine Club during my first year in veterinary school. Each week, they would have palpation labs at the dairy, usually for at least two to three hours. This was a great learning opportunity as their dairy cows were all artificially inseminated, so we knew their exact point in gestation. I went to nearly every palpation lab I could. The first few times were a blur, and all I felt was mushy warmth, and maybe their hard rumen (one of the cow’s stomachs). Dairy cows are large, so I often needed a stepping stool to reach them. I figured out there’s a reason why experienced veterinarians don’t spend a long period of time palpating one cow. Not only to save time, but after you’ve been feeling around for several minutes, the cow will contract the muscles of their colon (called peristaltic waves) to push you out. This contraction is like a tourniquet around your arm, and your arm eventually goes numb. If I took a long enough time, one of the Bovine Club leaders would walk up to me and ask, “Whatcha feelin’?” Most of the time, I didn’t have the slightest clue. Slowly but surely, I started to feel the parts of the cow’s anatomy that I was supposed to, and I finally felt I may not be a total failure as a large animal veterinarian. Thanks to the dairy cows at Foremost, I learned how to preg check, which is a huge milestone in a veterinary student’s learning process. My positive association with Foremost Dairy took a turn for the worse during my third year of veterinary school. I chose to have my food animal medicine and surgery rotation during March and April, which is normally a busy time of year for cattle work. There was a lot more downtime on this rotation than I would have liked. If things were slow around the clinic and we didn’t have animals to work or treat, the professors would say, “Let’s go to Foremost!” At first, I didn’t really mind, but I slowly learned that going to Foremost mostly meant treating hoof problems (a lot of what dairy veterinarians do). I learned that I wasn’t a big fan of footwork in cattle. I found the work tedious and redundant as most of the same problems came up over and over again in different animals. On top of that, you have to worry about getting kicked by a 1700 pound animal. I may not have minded had I got to treat the animals myself, but I found it even more tedious and redundant to watch a veterinarian do footwork. I’m sure my attention span is probably shorter than the average veterinary student, which didn’t help. However, one of my most memorable and entertaining moments of veterinary school was at Foremost Dairy. A group of students going through veterinary technician school came up to the dairy one afternoon. It was our job as veterinary students to teach them some basic medical skills on the dairy cattle, including venipuncture (drawing blood), urine collection, and rectal palpation. When it came to the rectal palpation portion of the lesson, we got the dairy cows in their stanchions and each took a veterinary technician student to teach. My student was a tall, gangly, hipster-looking fellow. He was a nice kid and eager to learn, but you could tell he had probably never been around cattle before. I could relate as this was me just a few years prior, minus the hipster part. Before he started palpating, I explained the process and the basic anatomical landmarks he may feel. “You’re going to feel resistance when you first go in, but don’t be afraid to push on past it. When you go forward and to the left, you may hit a hard dead end which is the rumen. When you move up, you may be able to feel the left kidney…” and I explain things for another two minutes or so. The kid put his glove on, lubed up, and slowly started to push his hand in. As I had predicted, the cow strained and resisted a little in the beginning. He promptly patted her on the rump with his free hand and said, “It’s okay, girl. Don’t fight it!” Maybe it was my dirty mind or the fact that I had been up all night taking care of sick crias (baby alpacas), but I found this to be quite hilarious. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t compose myself. Too much sleep deprivation. Another funny moment was during my fourth year of veterinary school. This involved a classmate of mine, who clearly had not taken advantage of the palpation labs. We were palpating and someone looked over at her. “How ya doing over there, Jenny (not her real name)?” She responded, “Well, I’m not feeling much.” The fellow student responded with, “That’s probably because your arm is in the vagina.” So yes, we all have blond moments (which I’m guilty of). Yes, this student did graduate and thankfully went into small animal medicine. My husband’s family is no longer operating a dairy farm. While dairy cows are no longer a big part of my life (except for the ridiculous amount of milk I drink), I can’t help but reflect on their influence on my life and education during National Dairy Month. So thank a dairy farmer this month. They work hard, care about their animals, and spend their life providing delicious and nutritious products for the consuming public.
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Jessica Stroupe, DVM
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August 2017
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