Latest / Beyond the Green Bibs / Ep 13 Chat with Dr. Lindsay Waechter-Mead

Transcript

Ep 13 Chat with Dr. Lindsay Waechter-Mead · Beyond the Green Bibs

0:11
SPEAKER_00: Hi, and welcome to Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I am Annie, a cattle vet, farmer, mom of two boys, and business owner with passions involving agriculture and personal finance.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: I am on a mission to inspire and encourage women who want to be involved in large animal medicine and also be a mom and so much more.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: I believe we as women can create a community to provide support to other women as we build a life filled with gratitude and purpose.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: So whether you are in the vet truck on your way to a farm call, a mom running the kids to school, a gal that loves animal agriculture, or heck, all of the above.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: And let's roll on with today's conversation.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Annie.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: And today we have another interview.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: We're almost to the end point of one year worth of uh time that has passed from these interviews.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: So some of these ladies' lives have changed since then.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: But we are gonna talk to Dr.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Lindsay today.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: And I had the opportunity to meet her at a veterinary conference a few years back, and she is just the sweetest, the sweetest lady, and she has got it going on.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness, she has so many, so many things.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: So she is a farmer, she's a mom of three, she's a veterinarian, she's out in Nebraska, and just last year she got her master's degree, so she has continued her education beyond the DVM, which is just amazing.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: And currently she works at the University of Nebraska as an extension veterinarian, and she's in charge of their quality insurance program, and she had a really, really good conversation with me.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: I just thoroughly enjoyed it, and I wanted to share a few of the little nuggets again that that she uh she had, and I really appreciated.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: So, one of the things that she mentioned and I agreed with because I'm not directly in private practice anymore, is that there are so many careers within veterinary medicine and within agriculture that relates back to veterinary medicine, that let the door be open if there's an opportunity.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: Like you have no idea how many different avenues you can take as a large animal veterinarian.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: And then when you do see a door open, if if you don't do it now, then when are you going to do it?
2:37
SPEAKER_01: When are you gonna walk through that door?
2:39
SPEAKER_01: So take the chance.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: And if it's something that you think, hey, this could be a good opportunity for me, by all means at least walk through the door and see what happens.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: We went on a little financial talk as well, which um is one of my passions.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: So that was a good little track that we went on.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And um, one of the biggest things to take away from our conversation was to start saving for retirement now, as young individuals just getting into the workforce.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: Time is on your side when we start saving and investing for retirement.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Really, the more time that you can have an account active with money being added to it, even if it's a small amount, the better off you will be in the long run.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things that she and I talked about was taking care of ourselves first financially.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: And then if we have the opportunity to help our children with their future finances, great.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: But take care of yourself first, get your retirement account open, start contributing consistently, whatever the amount may be.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you have it invested into accounts, don't just have it as a savings account.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's one step that people can forget is you actually have to invest it in something, and you'll you'll be setting yourself up for a nice financial future.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: For folks entering the veterinary world as recent grads, she said to have confidence, find that confidence.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: You got the education, you passed your boards, you are a full-fledged doctor.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we we kind of hide behind some kind of barrier.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, but have the confidence because you do have the knowledge and you've had the training.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: So you are good to go.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: Another thing as folks are starting out in the veterinary field is to follow up, which we've had this conversation on other episodes about reaching out to the to the farmer after a case, um, working through a case.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: It's not always it's not always fun to have to call the client back when you've done a complicated procedure and the animal might not have made it, but we all want to know what happened and we want to know where we can improve.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: So follow up and and just be a be a light for that client that yes, you no matter what the situation is, you're you're gonna work with them through it, whether it ends positively or not.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: And of course, we've gone through this one again, so there's a lot of common threads here.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: But another piece of advice that Lindsay gave was to admit that you don't know something, and that's totally okay.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: Follow up, as I just said, with hey, I'm gonna go look this up and I will get back to you with some information.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: So some advice she had for when starting a family, because she's got three kids and they are now in the in the thick of school and extracurricular activities.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: But as you are starting your family, work with your partner, create a good team that each of you can tackle different tasks so that one person doesn't have it all.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Make sure we are taking care of ourselves, especially when we're pregnant and we want to be the person that just keeps pushing on and keeps doing all the things, take a pause and and maybe check that you you should be doing some of the things that that we women try to do in the field.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we should take one step back just for a short time to take care of our our body while we're while we're growing that human.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: And we should take care of our body anyways.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: And then um, as you're working with your employer uh during pregnancy and then after your baby's born, we've got to stand up for ourselves because some of the some of the practices are not aware of how things go for um typical pregnant women.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Um if your employer is is an is an older gentleman, they may not know.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: They may that's been a while since someone in their family had a baby.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: So make sure you stand up for the things that you need, and if you need help that you ask for it, it's very hard to do, easier said than done, of course, but make sure to stand up for yourself.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: And then as you're out in the field and you've got, you know, you're the vet, you're you've got your family.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Don't elevate one label or one hat that you wear too much.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And Lindsay said this beautifully, and so I'm gonna let her tell it, but um, I needed to hear that.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: That's it's it's important.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, we wear that that that hat we work so hard for, and sometimes we elevate that so much that our family suffers from it and they don't get the attention that they deserve.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: And so take a second about which hat you are wearing, which label you have to your identity, and make sure we're not elevating one too much.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, make sure we get we get some time to have each label um identify us.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go ahead and get into today's episode.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: Thanks everybody for listening.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: I am at the AABP conference in Omaha, Nebraska.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: That's the American Association of Bovine Practitioners.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: So everyone here has some interaction with cows.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: Yay! Today I have the pleasure of talking to Dr.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: Lindsay, and we are gonna hear her story.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: She is a mom of three and has had a couple different positions in her career as a veterinarian, and so I'm really looking forward to having this conversation with you.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me too.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: Me too.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: All right, Lindsay.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: So just to get started, can you give me a little bit of background about yourself, where you're from, what school you went to, and what you're up to currently?
8:18
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: So I am I am a Nebraskan, true and true.
8:21
SPEAKER_02: So I went to undergrad at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, um, went to K State for grad for veterinary school.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I graduated in 08, and then I just finished a master's back at the university just this last May.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: So um 20 some years later.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I guess you're never too old to get more graduate school.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: Um but I'm so I'm from South Central Nebraska.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: Um after graduation from veterinary school, I knew I was gonna go back home.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: Um I'm actually the fourth generation to be on our farm.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: So my great-grandfather came over in uh 1901 from Germany, and then uh we've just been farming land and very diversified, so row crops and all species of livestock, honestly, except horses.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: That's the one, that's the one animal I don't really don't really have experience with.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: But um, so I knew that I wanted to come back because I am um the third and fourth group of four girls, um, and so I was the only one that had an ad background.
9:16
SPEAKER_02: So anyway, I found a job um close to home and started practice, and then eventually after I was in practice for I think four or five years, then I moved down to the farm, and that's where I am currently now.
9:28
SPEAKER_02: Um so we'll go through my story as we get there.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: But my current position is I'm actually the director for the Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm a livestock extension educator for the University of Nebraska.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, awesome.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: So when you were going through vet school, you kind of knew when you were got done, you were coming back home.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Did you think you would be doing, you know, all cattle or um, you know, mixed practice?
9:58
SPEAKER_01: Did you have any idea like before you graduated, like this is what I'm gonna do?
10:01
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, of course, our life always goes in a different way.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Totally.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, what did you think you were gonna be doing?
10:07
SPEAKER_02: I did, and so I so I am the girl that always knew since she was five she was gonna be a veterinarian, and it was like all species were great.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: I love, I love just the agriculture side of it.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: And so honestly, like when I think back, I thought being a veterinarian is a great way to stay involved in agriculture and not farm, if I'm being honest.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: I didn't want to row crop.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't have interest in the that far.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: I loved a garden, and that's a different story, but uh, but I didn't want to farm, but I knew I wanted to do something with with animals.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: And so, yes, I was always gonna be um, I was always gonna be large animal.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: However, I didn't really wasn't around cattle.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: We raised cattle, but I didn't show cattle.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: Like I showed pigs and sheep growing up just for fun, you know, at our little county fair.
10:48
SPEAKER_02: But like the cattle were there, but it wasn't something that I was really super involved in until I was an undergrad, and then I met my husband, and he um he really was interested in the cattle side, and so then we actually bought four cows right after we got married.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: We got married before veterinary school, and so like that first year we took out a loan to buy four cows, four bred cows, and so I was like, okay, cows are gonna be my thing.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: And so, like through veterinary school, I definitely, you know, you can't traffic Kansas State, but you can just you're basically you get all of the exposure, and so I started to realize I had a big passion on the livestock.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: So I like you know, when you start to excel in those classes and you just are super interested and like it's fun to study, which sounds weird, but you know, I mean, you're I'm like, I agree.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: This stuff is so cool, you know, like it was really interesting.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: And so um I knew I wanted to go mixed, and and honestly, throughout the years, I've had a couple opportunities where uh, and we can talk about that too, but like I started to have babies, and I'm like, well, small is I hate to say easier, it's not easier, but just like the physical part of it, you know.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: And I would I even interviewed a couple small animal physicians, and I was like, I can't I can't take myself out of you know the livestock side of it.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, so in veterinary school I knew I was gonna be missed.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: No way ever did I think I would be doing what I'm doing now, though.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: Never.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna be a practitioner until I retired.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: So isn't that crazy how you know doors open and things land in your lap, and you're like, this is an interesting opportunity.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm gonna go for it.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then it's you know, the best decision until the next best decision.
12:19
SPEAKER_02: But it was super scary, yeah.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: It was super scary to do those things, but yeah, I did not, I never thought.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: I and I say this too when I talk to students because I not not that it was anybody's fault, probably my own.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: I just didn't realize it, but I always thought the only thing you could do was be a practitioner, you know, like I just didn't really see, first of all, I didn't really see a lot of other women that were in other roles.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: I I just didn't, I mean, and I'm not that that old.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't think like there were other women that were out there, but I just always thought that it was just being a practitioner is what you could do, and so I'm always like, there's so many being a veterinarian has the biggest wide range of things that you can do with your life.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: So and that's part of the reason I have this podcast is because I want to showcase the fact that even now you go through your your tracking on, you're going to vet school, and it still seems like being a doctor, which is great, and being in a private practice, which is great, it still seems like that's pretty much the only option.
13:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: And how how I don't know how there will change, you know, somehow of sharing all of these other avenues that are out there.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it doesn't get talked about enough.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: No, I do feel though, in the last whatever social media since it's taken off.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like the mom DVM group that has all this the side things off of it on Facebook and and our cowgirl group, you know, those types of things are really we've really brought heightened awareness in this podcast, you know, just to what else can be out there.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: So that's that's awesome.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: And I do feel like I'm talking to more students and they have different pathways than what I than the majority of all the people I went to school with started with.
13:52
SPEAKER_02: So that's great.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Yep, cool.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to share uh what your journey has looked like and kind of slip in there, you know, how's how you started right out of school, what you were doing, and then as you grew your family to now where you are.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:11
SPEAKER_02: So right out of school, I started at a small, it was just me and another doctor mixed animal practice um in like central, south central Nebraska essentially.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: We were about an hour from where I grew up.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: Um so it was good.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: We didn't come home right away, but it was nice, it was close enough to be there.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, it was a great, it was a great experience.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: I had a great mentor, and that was it was truly mixed, you know, dogs and cats, hundreds dogs, cats, and cattle.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: Like no maybe a few cow horses that we did, but it was mainly cow calf.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: And my mentor was great, and like all of the clients were really good, and then um I got pregnant, and then things changed just a little bit, and I had um, and that didn't affect anything like with my job, but I just was like, okay, I want to work on how I can get closer to home because I knew I wanted to move back to the farm, and then wait waiting on my parents' decision as to when they were gonna build a new house to move out, and so anyway, it all worked out that a metaposition opened um 30 miles from home.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I took that job, and that was a larger, that was a four-doctor practice at the time.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: We built it to a six-doctor practice, and I was a part I became a partner there, and so I was there for 10 years.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: Um that was great.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: We that was a very also mixed animal.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: It was a little bit heavier, small animal, still is, but the small animal actually was aha predator the side of it, which was you know, that's kind of unheard of.
15:29
SPEAKER_02: We didn't have a lot of aha and cattle work in the same building.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I really felt like I got the best of both worlds.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, like I could go stay thousand cats in the morning and then go pray cows in the afternoon.
15:39
SPEAKER_02: And I that was awesome.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: Subsequentially, I had two more babies uh while I was there.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: So um life just changes, you know, you're just like uh not priorities change a little bit too, and in practice life is hectic.
15:55
SPEAKER_02: Um it really wasn't there were six doctors, so being on call wasn't quite as bad, but just by the I don't know, just by I think it was tiny.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: I have to believe everything happened at the time, but there was a position open at the Great Clay Center Educational Center in Clay Center, which is um 40 minutes from home.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: And um I always kind of in the back of my mind thought I like I kind of like academia.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: Like I never again, I never thought that's something I could do, but like I was a research scholar at K-State and I did that summer program and I worked in research labs and I really liked that.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: And so this position opened up and I wasn't thinking about leaving, but then I'm like, if not now, when you know, like what will I do?
16:36
SPEAKER_02: And that was so scary.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Like I'll totally like so scary to sell, I just sell my practice, sell my portion of the practice, um, totally leave life like you know, but I had known it since graduation.
16:50
SPEAKER_02: My kids thought I wasn't a real vet anymore because I wasn't practicing.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and I took and I got that position and so um left.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: Ironically, I took started January 2020.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy, yeah.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: And so again, timing was insanity.
17:06
SPEAKER_02: And so like I started like January 15th of 2020, got my first group of students in.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, in that position, I was 50% extension and 50% teaching and then service to the herd at the media research center.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: So I got my first academy students in, and and we were on like week four, week week two, third or fourth day, and they came to me that morning and they're like, we just got told that like school is over, we're graduating, we have to do that.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: And they were so scared, like like just like I'm like, okay, like you can do this.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: Like I've been with you, and and I've seen your skills, and I mean they were very capable, but just the way that the world was changing at the time was crazy.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: And then I went through all this guilt of oh, I I'm not in practice anymore.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: Now all my you know, people I worked with and my whole old work family is now dealing with all the COVID stuff, and I got sent to work remotely because the university shut down, so it was a blessing actually, because then I had to be at home with my kids and still do the work, and so it was just it was crazy.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: Timing was crazy.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, I did that for a couple years, and then another position opened even closer to home.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, that was all extension.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: And while I loved teaching the students, um, it was still 40 minutes past phone call.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: And so I was like, well, is there you know, priorities were changing too because my kids were getting older and they were involved in a lot of stuff, and so well, this position would be some trouble, but it's not anything that I can't manage, and so uh I moved into a county-based position with the grass extension.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, I did that in 22, and that's where I'm at now.
18:41
SPEAKER_02: And I evolved a little, so I just took on the BQA coordinator role this summer, um, which is great because that gives me I mean that's the the the program is is great and I truly believe in it, and it's really a good fit for where I'm at.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: Because I um when you're in an outstate and you're not like at the university, yeah, I you know, I have a lot of producer content, and that's mainly my my clientele that I get to serve, and so just sharing the the BQA program is great.
19:07
SPEAKER_02: So that was a really long story just to say, like, you know, you never know when things will happen, and and even leaving JP that was super scary.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: Like that was a really hard decision because I thought that was again where I would be forever, you know.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: And I had started grad school, and so like you just kind of have to decide, like, I'm gonna think what's the pros, what's the cons, what's gonna fit my my family and my life the best.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: And so it all worked out right, honestly.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: Like, even though you think things are gonna be crazy, or everybody that's been put in your life, I think is a great leader to where you need to go, like it just builds your story.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: So no, that's a beautiful story.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: You have a beautiful story, yeah.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: And I I just love, I mean, each position that you've had has built you for what you you know what you are now.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh, I think that's so awesome that you're BQA coordinator because the BQA that program is awesome, and I mean it's been around for a fair amount of time, yeah, yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: And there's still so much education that we can provide to clients, yeah.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: And um, you have that you know direct interaction as extension with those farmers that you I mean that's just one more like feather in your hat to share.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is good.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: Like I could tell, like even when I would go to the trainings, and it's not, you know, you're kind of teaching the same thing, but they all go in different directions because then you start to have those client conversations, and I'll drive away from those and be like, oh, my bucket's totally filled because now I feel like I'm back in practice, you know, because I feel like because I'm helping you, I'm like I'm able to help you be better to be able to raise cattle, to be profitable, to continue on the tradition that you've had.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: You know, some of these are generation-long farms, and so all of that is definitely bucket-filling for me.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy for you.
20:52
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: So we kind of already touched on this a little bit, but I want you to come from your angle and you to share it.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: But what are you most proud of from being a vet so far in your career?
21:06
SPEAKER_01: And the way that I've been asking this question is this is your time to shine.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear, like, this is your badass moment of I did this.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, I, you know, to me, you have so many moments that I'm if you forget one, I am gonna remind you.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: But I want to hear from from you what is if there's one or two things, or I mean it's fine if there's more, that you are most proud of.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: Gosh, that's hard.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: That's hard to pick one.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think every I'm gonna break your rule just a little because I feel like it was just like each stage.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: So I was I like balled when I graduated med school, and that still makes me feel really emotional.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: Cause like that, I it took me three times to get into school.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: It's super warm.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: So And you did yeah, and I do.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: That is your badass moment right there.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, forget all of you that said I didn't do it, you know, until like That part was awesome.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, being a practice owner, I think, was a big goal of mine, and so I'm glad I checked that off my list, you know, to to have a to be a partner in that position, and that was a big practice, so that was a good moment, and then the most recent one.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm pretty damn proud that I got my master's degree with three kids working full-time and running a farm.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: Like that also was I'm like, Yep, I felt pretty proud of that too.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: So and you should be.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you should be.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, you get emotional when you think about those things, but yeah.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, we know you know, there's so often we don't think about the things that we have accomplished.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're just like, let's go.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: We're you know, we finally got into vet school.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now what's the next thing I gotta get done?
22:41
SPEAKER_01: And you don't take that pause to be like, you know what?
22:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have come a long way.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have done some pretty dang cool things, and so I think we are.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: I one of my friends in in at the university kind of labeled me as like a high achiever.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: I feel like we are all high achievers.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you get into vet school without being a high achiever, and so I feel like you're always like setting what's the next thing, but that's that's great.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: Like you should step back and be like, what are the most important life things professionally?
23:10
SPEAKER_02: Well personally, that's a different story, but yeah.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Book that yeah, yeah, they they blend together, yeah.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: And it's just like uh just taking that pause because yeah, we are always out to get, you know, what is the next thing that we can accomplish.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: And especially on those rough days of work in practice with family, when you run into that, just it's like really bad day.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: Just taking a breath and actually, you know, going, okay, like I have all these things that I've accomplished.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: I have all these things, you know, I have family, I have a home, though all those things be grateful for.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, and just know that, yeah, we've done a lot.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
23:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so this is a little bit more of a challenging question.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: What is one thing you would change if you could go back in time to your younger self?
23:58
SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: I probably this is probably to my current self too, but I wish I would not be so concerned what other people think.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: You know.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, that happened a lot.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: Like, again, like not getting into veterinary school, um, like getting rejections, like feeling like, okay, you can't do it.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: Like those types of obviously I overcame that to be where I am today, but still, like it I it's so easy to say, but I wish that I was a little bit easier on myself about what I feel other people think.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: So I don't not that I I must be a people pleaser.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I am, but then I'm always like, you know, even like talking in front of crowds, like, how do how do I feel like that went, you know?
24:42
SPEAKER_02: So I wish that I could feel a little bit better about that.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: I think we all have that in us.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: And I think as women, we are people pleasers, yeah.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: And some of us more than others, but we are like we are, you know, how does make sure everybody has what they need?
24:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, does the husband have his lunch?
24:59
SPEAKER_01: Just the kids got what they need for school.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, probably should take a shower before I go to work.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes, like we're last on the list.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: That's just how it has been, and um, and so I don't, you're not alone.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're not alone.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: As a new grad, if you think back when you were joining that practice, the very first practice, and even the practice you were you were ownering, what were some of the challenges that you faced as a woman, a young woman in food animal medicine?
25:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I feel like I'm pretty confident, but I think sometimes I would, if I was like prepared before I went somewhere, maybe having a confidence level was, you know, like it I needed to make sure that I was like super prepared.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: So um I didn't want to feel inferior.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: I didn't want them to be like, oh, she's here and and it can she do what what the male owner can do, like that sort of thing.
25:57
SPEAKER_02: And so I honestly didn't feel that so much in my first practice, which was great because I feel like again, my mentor was he was like, She's here, this is what you got, or nothing else, you know, and and all the clients were really, really good.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: There were a few that you just they warned me, and then I'm pretty good at just shooting the shit back with farmers, and so I'm like, you know, bring it.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: I'll see what I can do to do bet.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: Um so that part, I however, my second even the practice, which is odd, but I think going right back to a practice that I was from, because that was my closest to my hometown, like the clients were people I grew up with, that was the hardest.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I tell I tell new graduates that too, like for sure, go home.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: You want to go home, go home.
26:43
SPEAKER_02: But I feel like maybe you should get some experience in a place that people don't know you because I had a lot of like I felt like I had a lot more barriers in that practice with people that had known me since I was five, you know?
27:00
SPEAKER_01: Right, like you have to prove yourself even more.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and maybe that was just the way I felt, but but and and ironically, a couple clients that might have been pretty hard would come up to me after I left and then tell me that they appreciated me as their veterinarian.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: So, like, okay, maybe it was me feeling like that, but like one guy even was like, I should have told you that.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: He's like, I've seen other things and I should have told you that when you, you know, when you were there or been cows or whatever.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: Because I I I mean, there's so many times that I did things not right.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we all just do things that aren't correct, but you have to own up to it and then be able to like follow up and be like, I'll fix it, or what what can I do better next time?
27:39
SPEAKER_02: So that was probably the biggest barrier, I think.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: I that's my biggest advice I tell people.
27:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, it doesn't work for everybody.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: I know you want to go home, and some people can do great with that, but in my experience, I was glad to have a little bit of a I want it fresh.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think that's great advice because you know, as I mean, I mean coming from the agriculture side of things, you know, there are folks growing up on the crop farm, and the parents say, Go work somewhere else after you're done with education for a couple of years before you come back to decide if you this particular farm, if that's really what you want to transition and take over.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: And it applies to us as well.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, coming back to that area that, yeah, people have known you since you were just a a little thing, they have they have high expectations.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you want to meet them, of course.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: And having that extra confidence from I've already done all these things somewhere else, I can, you know, I can do them.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: You will naturally have more confidence, yeah, you know, going into the home um area of practice.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: So that was great advice.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: So you have three kids, if you don't mind sharing how old they are.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um I have a daughter, a son, and a daughter, so 16, 14, and nine.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: If you want to share, if you have stories, but they would be okay with you sharing.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, what was it like raising kids?
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Because, well, we're we're still raising the kids.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're still you're still you're in the in the thick of it.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm a little more in the thick of it with the four and the two-year-olds.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're you still got your hands full.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any stories to share?
29:23
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they can be funny.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh huh.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: Usually kids make the funny stories anyways.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, of what it was like.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, while you're in practice driving some kids around, yeah, you know, going on calls.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Any any fun stories that they would be okay to be sharing?
29:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: So I don't I have a couple good pictures, and I don't know if I sometimes I feel like I've lost some things, maybe.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Like I've a lot of them.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: I have some really good pictures of how when my older two, they were probably four and two, or maybe a little younger than that, but yeah, because my son was in his car seat.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: So sitting beside the chute, I was testing bowls beside the chute, and she was with him.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: My daughter was beside him, and she has stethoscope in and she was like listening to him while I'm testing bowls, and so I snapped that picture, and so I'm like, oh, you know, they got to experience that, but they would come every now and then, but they really weren't.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: We did a pretty good job, my husband and I, of like keeping them when I was on call, and so and and the practice was 30 miles away, and so it wasn't something they could just walk to after school.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: But I do recall my youngest, so she's four years younger than our middle son, and so she I would pick her up from daycare.
30:29
SPEAKER_02: Daycare had to be picked up by six, and I remember I had a c-section coming in, and I I drove her over, we drove over to the clinic um and brought her in, and she's very um, she likes to be with me all the time.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: And but I have this like roly cart, and I set her on the cart and I set her out of the way so that she wouldn't like get in the way or get hurt or anything.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: And I was working on C-section, and she's just like screaming because she just wanted to be with me the whole time, and I will never forget that.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I can't, I'm like arms deep in this cow.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm like, I can't help you.
30:59
SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, I didn't have a client that was like kid friendly, and so like they didn't so like that was one of those moments where it's like, whoa, what am I doing?
31:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is so hard, you know, because my husband was traveling and so he couldn't come get her, but you just like work through it, you know.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: You just you just work through, and they got really used to saying, Okay, mom's on call, or or I had to go somewhere, and so you know, I don't have I don't have the best good stories of them interacting with it, but but definitely they I mean they knew what I did and they knew where I had to go, and so they like to go do like kennels and stuff on the weekends, but nothing too exciting, so that's that's still a great, yeah, great story to share.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: No, I I appreciate you sharing that.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, I had someone earlier tell a story of their kid who did a drawing at school in like kindergarten of what their mom does, and it was it was a it's a great story, so like in another episode people want to listen to it.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: But did you run into that with I mean your daughter now is older, but like did your daughter, your son?
31:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't even your youngest doing silly now.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: Well, I left practice when they were fourth grade, second grade, and preschool.
32:07
SPEAKER_02: So I don't like I said now they say I'm not even a vet.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm like our children, jeez! I know, and I asked them if they want to go and no, I don't, I don't think any of them want to go into binary medicine, so this is fine, but yeah, that's all right.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: I know that sometimes I'm like, I'm trying to like dig dig up if there was like, oh yeah, I blocked that because yeah, I block a lot of memories.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean in the moment's like, oh yeah, this was such a great thing, and then it's gone.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: It happens.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: That's Mombrain, right?
32:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so this next question is dealing with finances, and if you're comfortable with sharing, great.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: If not, that is totally fine.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, the reason I have this question thrown in there is because I'm very passionate about personal finance, and there will be episodes on this podcast where it's just gonna be me sharing some advice about personal finance, my experiences, etc.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to have that incorporated into these conversations.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: So have finances affected your path to where you are currently, and if so, how?
33:12
SPEAKER_02: Um kind of.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, so kind of.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: So I still had quite a bit of loans.
33:20
SPEAKER_02: I still have quite, I'll be honest, I still have school loans like coming out.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: Um I am not when you're in academia, you don't make a lot of money.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: And so, so I'm definitely not in a position because it was financially the best move, if that makes sense.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: And so um, like the what practitioners are making now, which they should be because because of the stress level of the job, I mean, is a lot more than you know, I I I made$50,000 out of school, like that's what I started at, you know.
33:51
SPEAKER_02: And so it's I'm not in a position now because it was a financially driven position.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, however, it does have really good benefits.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: And so, um, you know, when you work for academia or your industry or university, I mean I have I have a good 401k, I can set up a retirement, um, health insurance is good, you know, those types of things are motivators to have a position that I'm in now versus when you when you own your practice.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we had a to be fair, um the practice that I was a partner in, we had a we had a good 401k, which actually doesn't happen that often for your employees, but very, very rare.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: So I was grateful for that, but um, it it does help to have that benefit side of it.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: So nope, and I would agree.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, my main job at this point in my life is in the government, yeah, as a field veterinarian for the state.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, they kind of felt bad offering me the salary that they did because they're like, we know this is not much compared to what you could do if you went out on your own and started a private practice.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: But the benefits, yeah, the benefits package that was offered, and I'm at a point in my life where I wasn't making the decision based on salary.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm at a position, I mean, past experiences has set me up that I didn't have to pick the job for the salary.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: I was able to pick the job for the location, what I'm doing, the flexibility, all these other reasons.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: So that's exactly what I would say, why I am oriented.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: So, do you have any financial advice or insights?
35:27
SPEAKER_02: I am not a good financial plan, and I'm kind of embarrassed telling your background and like okay.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: I know.
35:35
SPEAKER_02: So I um I guess the only advice I would have, and I mean I started my retirement.
35:41
SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't graduate, I was 28 when I graduated dendra school, didn't have a retirement in my first job, so I didn't start even start a retirement plan until I was probably 31.
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I do feel pretty behind the ball on that, and that's a little stressful.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I also, though, come from you know, a farming background where that's not the norm, you know, get like benefits like that, you know, I mean seeing my dad and um just all of those things.
36:08
SPEAKER_02: So I don't I wish I had a better financial background, but my biggest advice would be if you can, I I always feel like pay yourself first, and I was told that by a mentor too.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: Like he he what he was talking about is you need to pay off your stuff before you start like thinking about putting money away for your kids or doing other things.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: He was always like, pay yourself first so that later in life you have the ability to do that, and I I really appreciated that because I was like kind of freaking out.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm in my early 30s, I'm now having kids, I don't have any retirement, I don't have anything.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: People are like talking about nest eggs for their babies, you know, to go to school, and I'm like, that is not a world that I live in, and right or wrong, I I kind of took his advice, and I do I do that.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'll be totally honest.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't have I mean my kids have savings accounts for for 4-H programs or something, but I haven't like started like a fund for them.
36:57
SPEAKER_02: Um and I guess we'll just deal with it when it happens, you know.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: Like, I I I feel like I gotta pay off my stuff first, so that's no, I think that's great advice, and I'm just gonna add a couple of things while while we're on the topic.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Paying yourself first, absolutely, and for the people listening, Lindsay said this just in a little bit different way, so I'm gonna reiterate it.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: Start saving for retirement now.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: You can open your own personal IRA right now and start contributing to it.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: And compound interest is the whole point of having a retirement account.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: The longer you have that account with money in it, invested in it, the better off you will be when you reach retirement age.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: And it does not have to be a significant contribution.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: You can put$20 in a month.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: If you can find$20 a month to put in there, you are well on your way if you're starting this at a young age.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: When you get older and you've got salary and you've got more to contribute, by all means, max them out.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: But the time is the is the part that we can't control.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: And so the sooner you start, the better you're gonna need.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then I'm just gonna throw in on the saving for children's future because I've got two little bunchkins that, yeah, we want to help them, yeah, but we've got to take care of our absolute needs first.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and obviously we're gonna provide the things that they need day to day.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, they are saving with however they're getting money, you've got you know, 4-H animals, so that's helping them.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, my parents helped me in other ways growing up that financially I was I was saving myself.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Like that was how I had started saving for for college.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, mom and dad didn't just say, Oh, we've been saving money for 15 years, and here's a check to help pay for your college.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: No, it didn't go that way.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, me neither.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: So um don't, I mean, we want to save for our children, but take care of ourselves first, the the immediate needs and ourselves on the retirement end.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's great advice.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: Great, thank you.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: That was great.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: So, do you have any special memories or stories that you want to share from practice, like funny, humbling, anything goes?
39:26
SPEAKER_02: So, one story after you sent me this list, I was thinking back of what was appropriate to share.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm running into that a lot.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: I have to think if this is an appropriate story I can share.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: So go for it.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, so this one, I just I I I guess it it's kind of sad when I step back and think about it because I feel like I shouldn't have pushed myself so much.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: And this is a good point for maybe for younger listeners too.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: Don't push yourself so much.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: But I was pregnant and it was OB season, and I got called out to a uterum prolapse, and it was like evening, early evening, but on top of being pregnant, and I was early pregnant, like four months, maybe four or five months, so I was kind of sick.
40:06
SPEAKER_02: I had influenza on top of it.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, and so and I went out to this prolapse, and he was an he was a nice man, older gentleman, but he was kind of the one of the clients that kind of had a wall, like a female wall.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: If I you know, he was just kind of like I felt that barrier there.
40:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, so I pretty much thought I was dying, and I got the prolapse put back in, which I thought I did not get it fully inverted.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, pushed it back out.
40:32
SPEAKER_02: He called me back out at two in the morning, and at that stage, I was like, dead.
40:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I should not be going to this, but I did.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: I went back out, like she ripped out her whole Buner stitch.
40:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay, so we got it, we got it back in, and I did some, I don't even remember, I think I ended up doing like the lace, like I did two, like four little um with umbilical tape, like the little sides, and then laced it up and pushed it back in and got it completely inverted.
40:56
SPEAKER_02: Like, learned how to fix that.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: Like, I realize now I always put water or something in it to get it completely inverted back.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: But I'm I remember driving back home and I'd be like, this that was really dumb.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, I am so sick and so pregnant, and you know, and I'm like, why did we push ourselves when you think about that?
41:12
SPEAKER_02: That was probably the worst practice story.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: That's one of those when you're like, I'm gonna forget it, I'll just gonna go work at Target because I don't want to do this anymore.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, and but then there's also great stories.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: I I was fortunate to work with some awesome technicians, I mean, like, like you know, family members, and so just like the funny little things.
41:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, like one time it wasn't to happen.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: Maybe my technician was in line at Taco Bell and she had chihuahua with a pooped in her pocket.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: She didn't even know it.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: It's just like like go to pay and she's like, Why does it smell like poopo?
41:47
SPEAKER_02: I have a turd in my pocket, so like those stories are great.
41:50
SPEAKER_02: Like, I miss I miss that from practice a lot.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: So the people that I worked with was definitely a good, good feel, good stories.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, cool.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: No, those are those are great stories.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: So, as we're kind of starting to wrap up, do you have any advice?
42:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you've already shared some, so if you want to add more, fantastic.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any advice for young, new, large animal women vets?
42:16
SPEAKER_02: Be confident, somehow figure out how your confidence is.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: And I I mean, some people really hate this thing, but fake it till you make it.
42:24
SPEAKER_02: I s I some people hate that, but I swear in large animal veterinary medicine, you it's not that you're faking it because you know, you just don't believe that you know yet.
42:34
SPEAKER_02: You know there you go.
42:35
SPEAKER_02: Um you you have been trained.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: You graduated, you went through the rigorous training, you graduated, I don't care what you graduated and you still graduated.
42:42
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know what you're doing, you just have to believe that you know what you're doing.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: And whether that like I had a group of friends um that I might call mainly on equine stuff.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: I'd be like, I don't know what I'm doing if I gotta go do this horse.
42:54
SPEAKER_02: And so then I would have a resource.
42:56
SPEAKER_02: I kept books in my truck.
42:58
SPEAKER_02: You know, I would I would read some gosh, now you can do.
43:01
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't know, I feel old saying is that all the AI stuff, like for differential lists and all those things that are out there, just figure out what works best for you, but show up believing that you can do it because you can.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: And I and I know that that's hard for some people to be like to build that confidence, but truly, if you if you can if you can just like show that that you have that, that you're not timid, that you can stand up, that I can shoot the shit with you, and it'll be fine, even if I'm not completely right, you know, that that will gain you so much trust.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: And then the second advice is we we heard it yesterday, and I've heard it a couple times throughout this meeting, is follow up.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, we don't do that in large animal enough.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: We did it all the time in small animal, and so I built off of that.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: But I would be scared to death to call and be like, is the cow still alive?
43:47
SPEAKER_02: You know, but like nine out of ten times they'd be like, She is like that.
43:52
SPEAKER_02: Or something's wrong, then again, you find it before that.
43:55
SPEAKER_02: But you gain so much credibility.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: So follow up, be confident, and then also if If you don't know, admit you don't know, but then follow up again and say that you'll find it.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: So those would be like, I think those three things, if you just stand on those, you're you'll be able to deal with almost anything.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: Yep, that's beautiful advice.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: I was I was waiting for the if you don't know, like, yes, you're confident, and be confident saying, I don't know the answer to this, but I know that I can talk to somebody, I have resources available that I will find that out.
44:26
SPEAKER_01: And I am going to contact you tomorrow.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to contact you in two days when I have the 15-minute block that I can work on this.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: And cut clients, customers appreciate it so much when there is follow-up.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's scary calling back after you know you have a rough situation and it's you know your heart is just like in your throat, and you're like, oh, you know, please got so happy to say I will be alive and like be doing okay.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: But if it's not, it's so nice to be able to say, you know, I'm sorry that this has happened.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, we work together because many times the client is there helping you in some facet, and you know, we did all these things.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, maybe we can try XYZ or you know, I'm sorry that this happened for you, you know, showing some empathy.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, because we did it all the time as small animal.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: It's cool, that's what you did, and it just doesn't transpose over to the large animal world quite as easily, but it needs to.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for sure.
45:22
SPEAKER_01: I think that's great.
45:23
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I do that all the time in my job now because people will call, they'll have an extension question, like a lot of the nutrition stuff.
45:29
SPEAKER_02: And I am not a nutritionist, but I know some fabulous nutritionists, you know, in my in my extension circle.
45:34
SPEAKER_02: And so I'll be like, we will get that answer to you, you know, at a different time.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: And so it doesn't matter anything in life.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: I think you can do that.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: But if you also if you you're overconfident and you blow smoke, they'll know that too.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, they can read you.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: So, any advice for vets that want to start or are starting a family as you have made it through the the hardest, hardest years of of life with three littles that are now uh three middles, we'll call them.
46:04
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I would almost argue that it might be harder now.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: Like I got I have one driving, and then we've got one in each middle school, high school, and grade school, and so they're very, very busy.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: But um, every every time is hard.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: So I think uh advice when you're starting one, don't push yourself, especially when you're pregnant.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: This is a kind of a side note, but two of my babies were Nikki babies, they were early at 32 weeks.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: I started researching that, and um, women veterinarians are overrepresented to have pre-meat babies, and I think it's because we just work, work, work until we until something happen.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: So, not that you can say exactly what caused that, but like take care of yourself.
46:43
SPEAKER_02: So, um, and and that prolapse was not worth going out, you know, to in the morning.
46:48
SPEAKER_02: Like, I should have pulled the plug on that one.
46:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's one, and then um have a good relationship with your partner um because you should not have to do it all yourself.
47:00
SPEAKER_02: It is a it is not it's not every day's 50-50, some is 90-10, but if you can work it out as to where that's gonna go, um, you know, that will help you in your personal life, which then reflects in your professional life, and then don't be afraid to talk to the people that you work with.
47:15
SPEAKER_02: If you're solo, you know, that might be kind of hard.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: Like, because you're find some support that will help you with that.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: But if you're in a mixed doctor practice or something, stand up for yourself and say, these are what I need.
47:27
SPEAKER_02: And if it is not a family-friendly environment, I know in rural practice it's hard to say get out, but really if they don't appreciate what you are and what your boundaries are within reason, that's not where you need to be.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: So I think that is wonderful advice.
47:44
SPEAKER_01: And yes, it's hard as a new grad young woman to stand up for yourself when now you're growing a baby.
47:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it is so important that that in that, especially in that space to stand up for what you need, what you can and cannot do, what you're not willing to put your body through.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, that was one thing that I had to emphasize at at my practice was I am not going to do X, Y, Z because I don't think it's safe for me to be in that situation.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: And so we had to work through that.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: So I think that was great advice.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: Yes, good.
48:20
SPEAKER_01: So as we are wrapping up, is there anything that we miss that you want to share with the audience?
48:27
SPEAKER_02: The only other thing I would say is that I feel like, and I do this, and so this is like me, I need to just listen to my own advice.
48:34
SPEAKER_02: But we put ourselves with labels, we all have labels, and we all um I think especially as women, we wear like 25 different labels.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: But in my mind, I always made Veterinarian my number one label for quite a long time.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: I feel like because it was such a goal to achieve, and then I was so proud of having it, and I'm still extremely proud of that.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: But it's okay to not make that your identity.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: So you need to, and and if if you're not a mom, that's fine too.
49:01
SPEAKER_02: Like if you're a wife, you know, whatever, whatever you want to have, and sometimes your labels will change based on the day, but just make sure that you don't elevate one of them because I feel like there were times in my life where I elevated veterinarian too high, and then other things would suffer from that.
49:17
SPEAKER_02: And so once I realize that it's okay to, it's okay that I love to grow flowers and make bouquets, it's okay that I want to um raise sheep because they're great therapy animals, and I love them, you know.
49:27
SPEAKER_02: Like it I know those are livestock-related things or ag related things, but like it's not just it's okay that I'm not in practice, and it's taken me a long time to say that, if I'm being honest, you know, and so I mean, here we are almost six years out, and there's still days where I'm like, I'm not in practice, but I've really come to a part where it's like it's okay because I'm still a veterinarian, but I may not have that pedestal that I thought it was gonna be.
49:50
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's just make sure you have other things in your life.
49:54
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
49:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a perfect place for us to pause because I don't think I could have said it better.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was wonderful.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: So if any of our conversation, especially with Lindsay's side of it, resonated with you, I'm gonna include Lindsay's email address in the show notes, and you could reach out to her and hey, maybe you know, you're gonna find somebody that's got two times that they haven't gotten to vet school and they want to talk to you about it.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: Um that's what that's what the whole point of this podcast is, is to connect us because we as women need a community on again all those other labels that we have, we need we need the community for each of those.
50:32
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: So thank you very much for joining us.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
50:35
SPEAKER_02: This was great.
50:36
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: That's all for this episode.
50:46
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for spending your valuable time with me.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
50:50
SPEAKER_00: Just a reminder: this podcast is not intended to provide medical advice.
50:54
SPEAKER_00: Please contact your local veterinarian to establish and maintain a valid VCPR veterinary client-patient relationship.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: If you liked what you heard on this episode, please rate and review this podcast and share it with a friend.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions or comments about this podcast or topics covered or ideas for topics, you can reach me at beyond the greenbibs at gmail.com or on Facebook and Instagram at Beyond the Green Bibs.
51:19
SPEAKER_00: Have a great day, and we'll catch you next time.