One of my favorite things about farming is that it really is a team effort. You must have good relationships with not only your employees who are working on the farm on a daily basis, but also with the consultants you work with on a regular basis.
We’ve been really lucky at Majestic Crossing Dairy to work with a great veterinarian, Dr. Chris Booth, DVM, for approximately 15 years. Dr. Booth started working with us shortly after he graduated from veterinary school. He is very involved on our farm, and extremely articulate. Dr. Booth is very well-connected in the agriculture community, which helps him see the big picture.
Dr. Chris Booth, DVM
We asked Dr. Booth to answer the questions he gets asked most often. Here’s what he had to say.
Tell us about your career path.
I grew up on a farm in southwest Wisconsin and knew from a young age that I wanted to work in agriculture. I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned my undergraduate degree in dairy science. While in college, I explored sales internships and other opportunities, but decided that being a veterinarian was the pathway I wanted to pursue. I graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine at UW-Madison and have now been a practicing veterinarian for 16 years.
What is your typical day like?
Every day is a little bit different, but I am usually scheduled to visit between two and four farms in the morning to perform routine reproduction exams. I check to see if cows are pregnant, I conduct ultrasounds on the cows to determine the gender of the calves, and check on the cows that will have their calves soon. If there are any cows that aren’t feeling well, I also look at them. When I’m done with all of the cows, I talk with the farmers about any issues or concerns they may have, and we talk about practices that may need to be improved.
Later in the day, I visit other farms that have called-in with challenges or concerns. A lot of times, I examine any cows the farmers have identified as sick. If they are ill, I’ll create a treatment plan for them, similar to what you receive when you go to the doctor (take this medication, drink fluids, bed rest, etc). I often attend key meetings with people at the different farms I work with. At these meetings, we work on vaccination protocols, treatment plans, welfare protocols, records analysis, talk about future expansion planning for the farm, or anything that might affect their dairy farm.
When you treat cows that are sick, what is the antibiotic protocol?
Our goal is to use as few antibiotics as possible on farms. Anytime I prescribe medication, there is a specific protocol for each one. The protocol includes the amount of time the cow is on the antibiotic and the amount of time the milk from the cow needs to be discarded. Part of my job is making sure the protocol is carried out properly and medications are used appropriately.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The favorite part of my job is communicating and working with a variety of people on different farms every day. I like being able to help farmers solve problems by providing solutions and making life better and easier for the cows.
I think it’s really important for anyone not living on a farm to understand how important it is that farmers do everything they can to provide the best possible care for their animals. Farmers are just like everyone else – they’re raising families, and they also want wholesome, nutritious dairy products to give them.