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Working with animals or plants is not always easy when you’re attending college. When I went off to college, I left our garden and all our animals at home with my parents and younger siblings.

I wasn’t too concerned though, I was more interested in the pre-vet classes I was taking.

More interested right up until I realized I would need more chemistry and physics (not my favorite subjects) and vet school costs a lot of money. I’d have to work for years to pay off the student loans, regardless of whether I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

When I decided that wasn’t the route I wanted to go with my life, I switched my major from pre-vet to animal science.

And animal science was much more interesting.

My favorite classes were the hands-on classes aimed at giving farmers and ranchers the skills to take care of their animals while still knowing when to call in a veterinarian.

In the Practical Vet class we learned basic suturing, how to AI and preg-check a cow, and helped brand and vaccinate calves

My shins were black and blue for weeks from being kicked by those calves, but we had a great time

I took a Meats class where we learned the different cuts, mostly of beef, and we actually processed several carcasses in the Meats lab (back before it was cool to do your own processing).

My junior year of college I also worked at a dairy. I got up at 4am every other day for a year to milk cows, and loved it! Cows aren’t super smart, but I enjoyed working with them. Though I did get stepped on squished against walls on occasion.

Here I’m cleaning an udder before putting on the milking apparatus

In the end, my bachelor’s degree is in Animal Science, with an emphasis on Veterinary Technology. I worked at a vet clinic for a couple years while finishing my degree. I found the clinic and my vet tech classes interesting, and I like the hands-on aspect, but I also realized that I didn’t enjoy a veterinary clinic setting as much as a ranch or farm setting.

In the intervening years since graduating college I haven’t had the opportunity to work with animals, but the desire to have some of our own has grown stronger.

A year ago we decided it was time to stop waiting for the “perfect” time, and we ordered 30 Cornish Cross chicks to raise for meat. But that’s a story for another day…

Baby chicks just picked up from the post office