Latest / Beyond the Green Bibs / Ep 11 Chat with Dr. Jody Kull

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Ep 11 Chat with Dr. Jody Kull · Beyond the Green Bibs

0:11
SPEAKER_01: Hi and welcome to Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: I am Annie, a cattle vet, farmer, mom of two boys, and business owner with passions involving agriculture and personal finance.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: 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_01: 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_01: 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_01: Thanks for joining me.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: And let's roll on with today's conversation.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to another episode of Beyond the Green Bibs.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Annie, and today we have another interview.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: We're kind of crunching through them here.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: This interview is with Dr.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: Jody Cull.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: And I actually met her for the first time in person at the conference we were attending last year, which is almost a year to the date.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: So we're getting to the one-year mark.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: And I have a few more interviews to get through, but we were we are gonna we are gonna do it, and then we will have some fresh ones coming.
1:26
SPEAKER_02: But just wanted to introduce and kind of tell a little bit about some of the really um golden nuggets that Dr.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: Jody Cole left us with on this interview.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: So she is a professor at Penn State, and she's a veterinarian, did large animal, did mix a little bit, uh, actually was owner of her own practice.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: So she's had a lot of experience doing several different job opportunities, which I love hearing about the different paths that our lives take as large animal veterinarians.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: She was fortunate enough to receive the VMLRP money.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: There's um money allocated to areas in need, and folks can apply for this money, and it helps pay off student loans.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: And it's a really nice program from the USDA to help a little bit with loans, and you're providing service to areas that are in need.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: And she received it and she said it was life-changing.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: So if there's anyone thinking, you know, I don't know if I want to go to this area or I don't want to go into VetMed because the student debt is just gonna, you know, demolish me, there are opportunities out there that can help you to get some assistance.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: And so she did receive that.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: That was really cool.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: A couple things that she said that really resonated with me.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Uh one of them was we work hard as veterinary, and then we get into the real world and we continue to work hard, and that's important.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: And along with that hard work that we are doing, having open communication with our clients, with our employer is crucial.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: That it's okay to say, I don't know, which I know someone else said that also.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: So I love that we have a little bit of some reminders.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: And as long as we follow up, that is a totally acceptable answer.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: And then we did talk about starting a family and having a family.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: She has a son, and one of the things she said is be open with your partner about starting your family.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: There's really no perfect time, which I know someone also said before.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: So, again, another reminder.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: But how she says it in the interview is just beautiful.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: The perfect time to start a family is when it happens, and I just think that's that's a wonderful way to put it.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: And then as we are in practice as young moms, it is hard, it is very hard.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: And so finding that community is exceptionally helpful.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: But these hard, hard years do go fast once they are in school, which typically is only five years, six years, um things get a little bit more routine or a little bit more organized, maybe.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh, still busy, but a little bit a little bit better.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: So if you're in the thick of it, know that there will be there will be a time where it does get a little bit easier.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna go ahead and start this interview and we can listen to the wonderful conversation that I had with Dr.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Jody Cole.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: All right, I am here at the AABP conference.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: That is the Association, American Association of Bovine Practitioners.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: So everyone here has some interaction with cows.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Yay! And we are in Omaha, Nebraska.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: So today I've had the opportunity to speak with several wonderful women with very unique stories.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: And now I'm going to be talking with Dr.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: Jodi, have her share her story, and share some funny stories, hopefully, um, of experiences she's had along the way.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: So, Dr.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: Jodi, as we're getting started, can you tell me a little bit about your background, where you're from, uh, what school you attended, and then what you're up to currently.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Annie, uh, for inviting me to speak with you today.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: So, my name is Dr.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Jodi Cull, and I grew up on a small family dairy farm in southeastern Pennsylvania.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was actually only about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: So very urban area, yet still rural parts to it, being that I was on a dairy farm, and to be honest, we didn't go into the city very much.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: There were too many people for our family liking.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: I went to Penn State for undergrad education and then went to Virginia, Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine for Veterinary School.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: I graduated from veterinary school in 2004 and then moved to Northeast PA where I worked at a mixed animal practice with two other veterinarians.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: It was a three-doctor practice.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: I was there for four years before they were going to stop doing large animal practice and yay, I love cows too, and so I wanted to continue doing large animal food animal medicine, and so I went out on my own in that area and started my own business in 2008, which is Valley Mobile Veterinary Service Incorporated, and I was in practice from uh 2008 until 2023, and uh I left practice in 2023, and my family and I moved to state college in Center County in the central part of the state, so that I can take an assistant teaching professor position at Penn State University in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, where I am teaching undergraduate pre-veterinary students and also sharing my passion for cows and rural communities.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: And you've actually already answered one of my other questions because I love how you laid out the entire foundation of your journey.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: No, I love that.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: That's wonderful.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, because our journey for everyone looks different, and um you not necessarily changed practice, you actually, you know, ended up with the opportunity of going solo.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: So when you were in vet school, what did you think you'd be doing after graduation?
7:45
SPEAKER_02: Did you think like I'm gonna be this dairy vet at a smaller, you know, three three-doctor practice, or did you have some other plan and then hey, this opportunity showed up?
7:54
SPEAKER_02: How did that play out?
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm not sure I really knew what I wanted to do going into veterinary school, other than I wanted to work with cows.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And given that I had a background in dairy and really not many other livestock species, uh, my sisters raised some market sheep and I raised some market hogs for 4-H, but that was our exposure to other animals, and it was very limited, of course, with only a couple animals every year.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: So I went into veterinary school saying, I'm gonna work with dairy cows, and I'm gonna come back to Pennsylvania and work with dairy cows.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: And I remember one of my mentors in veterinary school saying, if you're gonna go back to Pennsylvania, you're gonna be in a rural community, you're gonna work with all food animal species.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No, I'm not, I'm only gonna work with dairy cows.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: And lo and behold, I ended up at a mixed animal practice, which was uh, to be honest, not my passion at all in small animal medicine either.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I but I that's the job opportunity at the time, and we were the community we wanted to go to, it fit where we wanted to be and where we could afford a house as well.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where we ended up being with mixed animal.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not sure I ever really considered owning a practice or being a solo veterinarian, and I certainly would have never put being a professor at a major university on my to-do list of check marks in my career, but here we are.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, life happens, and sometimes you never know what opportunity is gonna land in your lab.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: The door opens and you step right through.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Yes, absolutely.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: So, what are you most proud of from being a veterinarian so far in your career?
9:33
SPEAKER_02: And I want this, you know, spotlight to be is on you.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, some of the folks that I've visited with, I said, this is your like badass moment when you are like, I did this.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you have a couple things, um, and you're more than welcome to share.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: But what are you most proud of as being a vet?
9:54
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm gonna say two things to be honest.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And and it's based off of honestly what my dad told me that he was proud of me for doing.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm gonna try to hold it together, to be honest.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: But the first thing was uh having and growing a successful business where my community and my farmers relied on me, and that I could see the impact I was making in their bottom line, their profitability, and really was considered part of their family.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: And to me, that's like I mean, just being part of that, if you could see I've got goosebumps right now.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: So to me, that was that was huge.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I will hold that with me for the rest of my life.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the second biggest thing, because I grew up in the 4-H system, which is in Pennsylvania, very, very closely tied to Penn State, I always had Penn State on this um pedestal of you know, my professors and undergrad, and this is where you aspire to be in the 4-H program.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: So, to be honest, it when the job opportunity happened and I threw my hat into the application pool, I honestly never would have expected a callback.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: It was just something to try to see, and so to get a callback for that first interview and then a second interview, and then the third one, I was like, no way, this this might actually happen.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Pinch me, right?
11:18
SPEAKER_00: Right, and and so here I am, you know, at the university that for me was like so monumental in starting my career in both schooling, education, background, and where I saw so many of my mentors come from, and to be a part of that team back on campus is I I can't believe I'm here.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: I love it, I love it, and yes, I got a little bit of goosebumps from like actually feeling like you're part of a community and you're making a difference within that community is yeah, like there's just this huge, huge, you know, heart swelling.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: Right, and the team that you have on the farm, yes, right, yes, absolutely.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, this tends to be the question that everybody's getting tripped up on.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: So answer to your heart's content or don't, that's okay.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: What is one thing you would change if you could go back in time to your younger self?
12:19
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, this is one of those you never know what you don't know type of questions.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: What would I change?
12:27
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not sure if I have an answer to that at this point because again, I feel like I've taken advantage of not advantage, but I've I've never been afraid to say no to something.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: I've I I mean I have been afraid, but I haven't said no.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: I was like, we're gonna try this, we're gonna, we're gonna do something, we're gonna explore this.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: Um so I I feel like I'm not sure I have something I would go back and change at this point.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think the discussion was always to come into veterinary practice back to Pennsylvania.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: That's what I always wanted to do.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: I was one of those little kids when the veterinarian came to the farm.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: I was annoyingly following him behind and asking probably so many questions that he did not have the time to answer, but always took the time to answer.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, he set that foundation of yes, you can do this.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and to do that.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: I I guess I could say, you know, I'm I'm middle-aged at this point.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Let's we'll put it out there.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: And you know, should I have taken more opportunities when I was younger?
13:40
SPEAKER_00: I didn't travel a lot when I was younger, I didn't do a ton of rotations all over the you know, the country, and and maybe knowing where I ended up practice-wise doing more um more of the other livestock species, could I have gotten exposure to them more in veterinary school?
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Probably.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: I I had to learn a lot on my feet and practice because I didn't have a background in them.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: I had blinders on for dairy cows.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: I was saying I ran into the same thing.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: No, that's a great answer.
14:10
SPEAKER_02: And the the answers I've had have been across the board, and several people said, you know, I I don't think I would have changed anything.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know my life was gonna end up like it has, and I'm grateful for you know how things just kind of the door opened and I went in, and never would have guessed that was the door to be opened, but I'm not sure all the doors have closed yet either, right?
14:36
SPEAKER_00: There still might be more to open, and so we just will play that by ear when the time comes.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: Yep, absolutely.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: So what were the biggest challenges that you faced as a new veterinarian, a woman veterinarian going into large animal practice at the practice when you when you had started?
15:01
SPEAKER_00: So during our interview here, there's no video, but nobody can see that I'm five foot two.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: And working with dairy cows, working with beef cows as a vertically challenged female, I feel adds a whole new layer to that.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, I did go into a mixed animal practice that had a female owner at the time, which in 2004 was kind of still a fairly new thing.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm very grateful that my boss at the time, who is a friend of mine, had sort of paved that road beforehand.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: And so while there were some challenges being a female going into a large animal practice for me, many of them were physical in in nature because of you know height and physicality that my boss at the time she was much taller than me.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And so trying to figure that out and just trying to think smarter while I was on the farms to to manage and be able to work with an animal that is significantly bigger than all of us.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: Did you run into challenges at farms with farmers having, you know, a comment to make or something to say about the fact that here I'm I'm the same as you, I'm also vertically challenged.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: You know, what's this little girl coming to do to work on, you know, this big cow?
16:25
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, did you run into any of that?
16:28
SPEAKER_00: I think I did.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: I know I did.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: I I felt that made me want to work harder and work myself even more.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: But not only height-wise, uh, I still am told, I'm very grateful that I have a younger looking face.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: I have a very high-pitched voice that doesn't sound uh very masculine, and so those things were against me as well.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: And although I'll be honest, I think that was more challenging in the small animal world, uh, partly because I didn't have the confidence in small animal.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: I did zero rotations in small animal except for the ones we had to do in veterinary school.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: So there was so much knowledge to learn there.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: I did not feel confident and comfortable in the small animal world, and then you had female, new grad, young, high-pitched voice, and and you had all of those things together.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: Our large animal clientele, we did have some plain tech community and some English communities, and I I didn't have too many challenges female-wise with them until I became a business owner and changed some of the rules that they potentially might have been used to from some of the other practices in the area, other veterinarians that they've worked with previously, not only my boss, but some of the surrounding practices that were overlapping some of our edging territory.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Um I kind of set some stringent rules knowing I was going to be a solo veterinarian and seeing some things I wanted to change, just even four years into practice that I I butted heads with some people.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: And so those some decisions were made, right?
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Do they want to be a client, do they not want to be a client?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: And I was willing to take some gambles on that.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: That paid off in the long run from being confident from the start.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: That was a little bit different challenge.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: I felt nervous to do that, but it was successful.
18:22
SPEAKER_02: Cool, that's a great answer.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: So you have one kid?
18:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: I was like, I've I remember to seeing your presentation, and I know there was mention of kid, but I'm like, I can't remember if it was plural or singular.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just one.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what was it like raising son?
18:45
SPEAKER_02: Your son in Large Animal.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: Do you have any stories to share?
18:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, like if he came along for different experiences that he wouldn't mind you share about essentially raising him as a solo practitioner and I mean running the show out on the road.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and our life at home, I mean, everybody's life at home is challenging.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Ours was uh sometimes a little bit more challenging being on call 24-7 for myself, but my husband was on call 24-7 for our fire department and they ran 15 miles of Interstate 80, uh, and then a county forest fire warden during fire season for us spring and fall.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: So we were always on the go between the two of us and never quite knew what some emergency schedules might be like.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was pregnant while solo veterinarian.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: I went through labor and delivery as a solo veterinarian.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: I did a herd check 60 miles away from home the day I went into labor.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not for everybody, but I didn't know I was going to go into labor that day, and everybody was on high alert for it because we were getting close to D-Day, and so I felt good, but went and did it, and then that night felt kind of not so good and went to the hospital.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: And here I was in labor.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we we went through labor and delivery.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: I had a maternity leave, not as long as probably should have with many people, but that was self-induced in that I was ready to kind of start going out on the road and getting out of the house.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't do well being indoors for a long time.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: And my son did grow up in every on everybody else's farms.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: We we joke that he was the son who grew up on a farm when we don't own a farm ourselves, and he grew up on everybody else's farm.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: So he got to see a lot of different things um through through the years coming along with me on the road, uh, coming along.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: He got to see some things, sometimes going with my husband, and it it was always a challenge managing that.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: He was not in a daycare system, and so there were times where he might have needed to come for a hurt check, even.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And luckily, clients were really willing willing to work with that and help watch him sometimes, or he could play with other kids.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: It got to the point when he was kind of that toddler talking to school-aged kid.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, and even the first couple of years in elementary school when he would ride with me over the summer, he knew which farms had kids that were similar ages.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: And as a solo kid, that you know, he's a he's an only child that was exciting for him.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: So he would love to go during herd checks or farm visits when he knew that we were going to certain farms and and play with with his friends at at other farms that he didn't get to see otherwise.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: He is not a fan of veterinary medicine, and so I think it's great when you talk to so many people who.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Whose kids are interested in veterinary medicine.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: He loves biology, he loves science, he loves engineering, but not blood and guts.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And so there was a lot of challenges with sometimes him riding with me as a special, especially as he got a little bit older in that aspect.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: And so we did try to work around that.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: I tried not to force him to come unless he wanted to come as he got a little bit older.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna ask you if what he was going into because approximately how old is he?
22:31
SPEAKER_00: He's uh he's an early teenager.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so high school age.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Okay, he's high school, okay.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: So he will not be going into med school.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: And that's okay.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: That is all right, but it's okay, but that's very cool.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, he grew up seeing you doing what you love, juggling all the things, and that just makes him a better human being.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: But he loved slamming and kidding season, and if we were going to uh castrate piglets or something like that, he he loved every baby that we got to see on the farm.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh once they were cleaned off and dried dried off, then he wanted to play with them and hug them and cuddle them.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I can't blame him for that because right, baby season and all the species are the best.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: So he did ride along a lot with me with with that, but tried to avoid some of the dirtier and smellier parts of the job.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: Understandable.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: That's understandable.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so this question, if you're comfortable answering, wonderful.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: If not, that's okay.
23:35
SPEAKER_02: We will pass it on, pass it off.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: But this podcast does involve personal finance.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: I will be sharing personal financial topics in some other episodes.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: And so I wanted to throw this question in there just to kind of like make sure it's blended in somewhere.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: And so, if you're comfortable with answering, have finances affected your path to where you are currently, and if so, how?
24:01
SPEAKER_00: That is an excellent question.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, finances we they they absolutely made an impact on everyone's life in veterinary medicine.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Actually, everybody's life, not even in veterinary medicine.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: How do you go?
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Money makes the world go round, and we all have bills to pay.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: So I I think the answer to that just is to start out with the fact that I had undergraduate debt from Penn State, and I also had veterinary school debt from Virginia, Maryland.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: And even though I graduated 21 years ago now, um, I was on the pathway for a 30-year loan repayment plan because I was kind of the top of the values of loan repayments at the time.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you graduate from veterinary school, you get married, you buy a house, and so we had a mortgage, and then the business and business finances were all separate with the business loan when I went out on my own and vehicle loans at that point, but the personal finance.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: We were on track for that 30-year at the time income-based repayment plan, so growing in number as you got further out from vet school.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, I did and was very fortunate and will share with people that I did receive a VLMRP veterinary medical loan repayment program grant to repay some of my vet school debt.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, however, I was 10 years out of vet school when that program started, and so I was into paying my debt quite significantly when I did receive that grant, but that was financially life-changing for my family.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: At the time, Pennsylvania did have a small loan repayment program that I actually went on right out of veterinary school, it repaid a couple thousand dollars of my Penn State loans.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, over five years, it came to about 10,000, which was great.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, same thing.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Every little bit counts when you're looking at six figures or more of debt.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: And so between the Pennsylvania one and the loan repayment veterinary USDA one, that was life-changing for our family.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: It allowed us to start preparing for the future with retirement and college funds and putting stuff away and paying off some of your mortgage more and kind of doing some things that we were not in, that were not in the budget previously.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: That is a very awesome story because I have not had anybody yet share that they have received some some help um for their their loans um from USDA, from um public service in that of that regard.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: And so that's awesome.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, because there are they're not there's really not that many um of those offered.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: And I know there's other women veterinarians who have got them.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: So hopefully I'll run into some other people that also got it.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I'm sure they're gonna have that same scenario of like it is life-changing.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it is if you are given that opportunity.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: So that is awesome.
27:09
SPEAKER_02: Do you have any financial advice or insights that you would like to share with our audience?
27:16
SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest thing is living within your means and your budget where you don't buy.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: I remember when we were house hunting, my husband and I, we went to the bank, and my husband had a job in the time at public service working at uh our small county jail, and so was not making a you know a ton of money.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was making more money, and that was not a ton of money in 2004, 2005.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And we went to the bank, and then the bank was willing to give us a mortgage of close to half a million dollars 20 years ago.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at that and my vet school debt, and and I thought, this does not make sense.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: And so we found a much more affordable place that was not within that budget that was a great place for us to live in, to raise a family and to have a business based out of, and still had a little bit of you know, rural setting and able to do what we wanted with the property.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: And and so I think living within your budget and your needs and creating that budget to be able to do that so that you can work on taking care of some of those loans that are kind of on the back of your mind, whether or not they're educational loans, they're private loans, um, their personal loans, they're car loans, all of these things.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: To me, those are just things in the back of my mind.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: I just I I don't like having that overhead.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: So for me, we worked very hard personally to not have that overhead.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: That is a perfect answer.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: And it's funny that you you offered that advice because tomorrow I'm presenting on some personal finance for students, and I think you've covered about four of my slides that I will be sharing.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: So I love it, just love it.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: All right, do you have any special memories or stories to share?
29:14
SPEAKER_02: They can be funny, they can be humbling, um, different experiences at a client's, just the spotlights on you to share freely.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: I will share that one of my dairy clients, and it was a dairy farm that I was at twice a month.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: So I I worked with them quite frequently, and the herd manager was about my age, a couple years older, and so we were in a similar um age group, and although um I'd say different stage of life initially, he did not have a girlfriend, did not have a wife, things like that.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh, where I was already married and starting a business, and as a herd manager, he was still kind of exploring um and meeting people, and so I he is such a great friend, and you know, it was really exciting to be a part of when he met his at the time girlfriend, and then when she became his fiance, and then to become his wife and to be a part of his wedding, uh, that he had asked me to be a part of his wedding, and you know, that was just heartwarming that he considered me to be part of that um team for him and to support him in his life decisions, and moving forward, and when they did have children, and I went to visit his wife, who became a great friend also, and visited his wife in the hospital, and where I practiced was along the Susquehanna River, and um, his first child was born right around fall rains, and the river was rising in response to the rains, and the hospital was across the river 40 minutes away, where his wife was delivering, and his farm was on the other side, and she kind of got stranded.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: They closed the river bridges, and he couldn't get to her after their daughter was born, and so I went, I could get to them because I was on that side of the river, and so I went and visited.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: He was there the day she was born, and then went home to milk cows and then couldn't get back to the hospital.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, that's all right, I'll stop over.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: And so I stopped over and spent some time with her in the hospital when their daughter was born, and actually, funny story I will share, although knowing they won't hear it, is the fact, or at least his daughter won't hear it, was that I was holding his daughter while his wife was eating lunch or whatever meal, I don't even remember, and um the daughter pooped, and it was her mecrem first poop.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, I got it, I got it, I'll take care of it.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to get up, you relax, I got it, and so um, you know, to be even that close as far as being able to that they felt comfortable like, yeah, it's all right, you can do this, Jody can take care of it, and I was like, No problem, I have a kid, like we can clean this up and take care of it.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: So um, to just be so integrated with clients' lives, um, and that they considered me um part of that and and willing to include me in it was always so touching and memorable.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: That that's wonderful.
32:41
SPEAKER_02: That relationship is just astounding.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
32:44
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we talked about community, you know, having that community and feeling part of the community right there, just you know, seals the deal because that's I mean, you're the veterinarian, but you spend a decent amount of time with this person and you get to hear all of the, you know, their personal things, maybe more than we want to, but you get to follow that whole path, and that's just beautiful that you were able to be there for the problem.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Like the you know, endearing moments that were very touching.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: We all know that when you get to know somebody that closely, um, and not just that particular farmer, but right, there's always still those fun moments, there's the sarcastic moments, there's the teasing moments, there's the embarrassing moments that happen as well between all of those producers.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: And so when you were mentioning, she's a funny one, I'm like, oh, there's so many of those that you're just like, I don't even know which one to pick.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's so many that you're just either one of those situations or a farmer, or you know, you're like, whoops, or you know, maybe I made a mistake, or you know, but we can laugh at it and and move forward from there.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: That there's comes with that comfort and relationship and communication.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
33:59
SPEAKER_02: No, that's a great, great story.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: So, do you have any advice for young, new, large animal women veterans?
34:09
SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest advice is be open and honest, and I think that's the key to any relationship, right?
34:17
SPEAKER_00: These this is not a rocket science statement.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: This is not like be sure you know how to do your Ford interlocking suture pattern because that's what's visible in your surgery, although that's important too.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: But it it really is beyond honest and open and be willing to communicate and work hard for the producers.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: I remember I was only out of vet school a couple months, and I was at a herd check that was 50-60 miles from our home base, and I was by myself, and the farmer said, Hey, I have a melagoharnia surgery to do.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, I've never I've never done one of those yet by myself.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how to sedate the animal.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't know what to do.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I've never even I haven't seen one of these really.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And the farmer said to me, Oh, don't worry, I got I got you.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: I've seen enough of these, I'll talk you through it.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: And young, silly me, I was like, Okay, well, let's do it then.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: It did work out, the calf survived, you know, everything went fine.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: But I think that open communication of being like, I just don't know.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: And at the time this was kind of pre right at the start of cell phones.
35:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm old enough that you know I had a pager and then would have to use a landline to call the clinic.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, oh well, we'll we'll have to schedule another visit with my boss at the time and the farm.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: I was like, nope, we're gonna we're gonna do it today and I'll talk you through it.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: And so they were willing to work with me because I was honest in the fact that I was like, Well, I I know the knowledge, but I don't know what I'm doing, but we'll we'll monitor our way through it together.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: So that's great advice, and that is one thing that I was talking to someone else earlier today of you know, the the communication, it's so crucial.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's cre it's important for every, no matter what the situation is in life.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: But for us as doctors, we've really got to kind of go the extra mile because we're we're relaying information about our patient who has no voice, and we're we're depending on our communication.
36:24
SPEAKER_02: Is it clear enough?
36:26
SPEAKER_02: Is it making sense to that caretaker that they are gonna be able to follow through?
36:32
SPEAKER_02: And then are we following through that we are checking in?
36:35
SPEAKER_02: You know, having as a new grad, having that conversation of I'm gonna call you in 24 hours after this surgery because I am dying to know what is the status of this animal on this thing.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what I was doing, but I did the best that I could do.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm right there with you, farmer.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: Like, I want to know how this is gonna turn out, and you know, very hopeful that it is going to be a successful situation.
37:04
SPEAKER_02: And so that was that was a wonderful answer.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: I think the other advice, just for fun that I'll share about being um a women new grad, woman new grad, is to figure out your bathroom stops, right?
37:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a good one.
37:19
SPEAKER_02: That's a very good one.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Figure out the bathroom stops, rank your local gas stations or grocery stores or um what have you for where you want to go to the bathroom while you're on the road.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Learn where the state parks are, and because sometimes, you know, a client might have a bathroom you could use because maybe in their barn, if it's like a dairy barn or something like that, that they might have a bathroom.
37:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not sure if you want to use it or not, depends on the farm.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: And and you may not have the relationship with the farmer to say, Hey, can I use your bathroom and your house?
37:54
SPEAKER_00: That takes some time to get that relationship.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: But learn where they are in your community that you know, not only for a bathroom pit stop, but you know, if it's a gas station, maybe you can grab a snack along the way.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I had not thought of that that one, um, but that is a very good piece of advice.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm gonna share just a quick story here since we're on the topic.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: When I was pregnant with my oldest who is four now, I was driving a lot of rural roads, going to different farms, and I might be 100 miles or 200 miles away from the clinic.
38:30
SPEAKER_02: And pregnant, you gotta go to the bathroom a lot.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: You just do.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: And fortunately, I'll put it fortunately, he was born in November.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: So I was able to use cornfields when I had to go, you know, and there's no other options for 30 minutes.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: You can't almost go to the bathroom outside.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you gotta you gotta have that planned out.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: That was another great piece of advice.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
39:01
SPEAKER_02: Do you have any advice as a mom as you think back um as you were starting your family that you would want to share with vets that maybe they want to start a family or they have already started the family and they are maybe stressed out to the max?
39:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, anything that you want to offer advice on that?
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there's a couple things along that one that you really try, you know, everybody wants to plan the right time.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: When you have the right amount of time out of your work, maybe it fits a work schedule or you're waiting to have enough money or something like that.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: And I hate to say that there's a clock ticking, but because we go to a professional school, we are potentially a little bit later in life to be, at least I was personally, um, thinking about having children.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: And so starting the business kind of happened in the middle of when we were getting ready to start that discussion, and so we put it off for an extra year to think about things and make sure the business was going to grow to the point of being able to sustain me as a full-time veterinarian as I continue to pick up some new clients and things.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think just being open with a partner about what does that timeline look like and don't wait forever to do that timeline in that aspect, um, because there's never a perfect time.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: It's never perfect, but it it will be perfect when the time comes.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: So waiting for that is not really a great answer.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: But the the other thing is that the first couple years are super stressful, there's so much going on, they are demanding, and as children, even though they're not doing anything but crying and sleeping and pooping, but it goes by so fast as well, and then it's a whole new type of time commitment as they get.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: And I so many people told me this beforehand, and I said, Yeah, yeah, I'll believe it, you know.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: But it's it is stressful when they're young and everybody's tired, and you're trying to still manage a business and you're going in different directions, and you've got family obligations as well, and but then they they start to grow up a little bit, and then you've got school obligations and trying to plan that around the business as well, but you got to keep that in your back of your mind that it's still you can you can do both of those things, you can still do that.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: I was always getting my son off the bus in the afternoon.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: I made a goal to be home to get him off the bus once he started school.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wasn't necessarily home in the morning when he went got on the bus because I was already working, but I was home in the afternoon to drive to sporting events and to help with homework and to cook dinner because that's what I wanted to do.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's workable, it is definitely doable.
42:07
SPEAKER_02: And that was a perfect answer.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: The the thing I'm gonna add is it's gonna be hard.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: It's just gonna be hard.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's no nice way to put it, but it is so worth it because the the the joy, even though like I'm at the stage with a four-year-old and two-year-old that I wanna I wanna pull my hair out a lot of the time right now because they're both very active and running in opposite directions.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I know that right now, like this is an extra challenging time, and baby phase was was a challenge because they just need me and I want to be working in a cow's and so there's a poll, you know, we got tuck of work going on.
42:54
SPEAKER_02: But now they are at the point that they can tag along, and both of them love to be around the farm, um, which is a wonderful, wonderful place to have them.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: And so it is doable, but find your support, find a community.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: It may not be family, it might be friends that become family, but having having some kind of community, and as you integrated yourself well into your community, I'm sure you had some of those people around that when both you and your husband were in a pickle, you had some people that could help you.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, they're there definitely was I mean, I will say we were fortunate, we lived close to my husband's parents, and so they they did help with some of those emergency calls if they were um around and able to help out, and they did help with some occasional babysitting here and there.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we tried not to rely on them too much because they had lives too, and I didn't want to burden them with the decision that I had made to not put my son into childcare.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: So um we we made it work with everybody, and clients were great to work with, some friends, some neighbors.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: I met some people in another mom group in a mom's group locally, and though I couldn't go to many of their activities, they would keep me in the loop and include me in stuff, and so it was a great network with them as as especially as my son started to get a little bit older.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
44:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we're coming to the end of our chat here.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything that we missed that you would like to share or talk about that I didn't I didn't get to?
44:41
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know if there's anything extra.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what people don't know or do or want to know, but I I do think, and I try to live this way, that I just feel very fortunate to have the opportunities that I've had.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I I feel like I never expected to be in Main's annual practice, I never expected to be a business owner, I never expected to leave practice, and never expected to be teaching as well.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: And so I feel like each opportunity that's been in front of me has been a new one, which has come with new challenges, new adjustments, uh, both for me but also my family as well.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: And they're so exciting, they're they're just very exciting.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: So I feel very fortunate to be part of the veterinary field and see what all of the different things that we can do with with our knowledge and our degree.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the perfect place to pause.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
45:43
SPEAKER_02: So if something in this conversation with Jody resonated with you, we will share her email address in the show notes.
45:51
SPEAKER_02: If you want to reach out to her about anything she had talked about, um, maybe you're in Pennsylvania and you know, maybe you're gonna be your student.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
46:00
SPEAKER_02: Um I will have that in the show notes.
46:02
SPEAKER_02: But thank you very much for chatting with me.
46:05
SPEAKER_02: And I really enjoyed our conversation.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: That's all for this episode.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Thanks again for spending your valuable time with me.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
46:16
SPEAKER_01: Just a reminder: this podcast is not intended to provide medical advice.
46:20
SPEAKER_01: Please contact your local veterinarian to establish and maintain a valid VCPR veterinary client-patient relationship.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: If you liked what you heard on this episode, please rate and review this podcast and share it with a friend.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: 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 Bibbs.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: Have a great day, and we'll catch you next time.